Three Law Enforcement Officers Charged with Crimes

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price last Friday filed criminal charges against three law enforcement officers who work within the county's jail system. Nicole Perales, 50, has worked as a Juvenile Institutional Officer in the Alameda County Probation Department since 2001. She is accused of oral copulation and lewd and lascivious conduct of a minor in her care back in 2004 and 2005. 

Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sheri Baughman, 49, and Deputy Amanda Bracamontes, 30, are charged with committing falsification of records in connection with a suicide at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. On April 3, 2021, Vinetta Martin hung herself with a bedsheet in her cell. The deputies were supposed to conduct direct visual observation checks every 30 minutes. Baughman and Bracamontes are accused of doctoring the logbooks to make it appear as though they followed department procedure. Video evidence submitted in the case suggests they did not, according to DA Price’s office. 

In a statement, Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez said her office is cooperating with DA Price’s office on the case at Santa Rita Jail, adding that “Deputies Bracamontes and Baughman are entitled to due process.”