LAPD cadet scandal continues: Officer arrested for underage sex with cadet

Amid reports that more than 100 weapons were found during a search of his home, an officer accused of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl who was in the Los Angeles Police Department's troubled youth cadet program was released on bond today.

Officer Robert Cain, 31, was arrested around 11 a.m. Thursday by Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck at the 77th Street Division station, where Cain is assigned.

Cain was released about 5:15 a.m. from the Men's Central Jail, where he had been held in lieu of $75,000 bail, and is due to appear in court in downtown Los Angeles on July 21, according to sheriff's inmate records.

The arrest is the latest scandal to rock the cadet program, which was shaken last week with the arrest of seven juvenile participants stemming from the theft of three police cruisers.

The 15-year-old girl allegedly involved in the sexual relationship with Cain is one of the seven cadets who were arrested, according to Beck.

An LAPD spokesman declined to comment on what was found when investigators searched Cain's Rancho Cucamonga home on Thursday, but sources told the Los Angeles Times that more than 100 weapons, including modified assault rifles and a grenade launcher and grenades that were non-functional, were discovered.

Beck said Thursday that the alleged relationship between Cain, a 10-year LAPD veteran, and the teenage girl appeared to be short-term, occurring "within the past month," but he said investigators were still looking through
phone records and social media.

Investigators learned about the alleged illicit relationship when they reviewed text messages on the arrested teen's cellphone, Beck said.

On Tuesday, Beck announced the arrests of four additional juvenile cadets, one of them the 15-year-old girl, bringing to seven the number who have been nabbed in connection with the theft of a trio of police cruisers, two of which were involved in pursuits that ended in crashes last week.

Three cadets were arrested at the end of the pursuits the night of June 14. Police recovered the two cruisers involved in the chases, then found a third parked nearby.

Of the seven arrested cadets, six were assigned to the 77th Street Division program and one was assigned to Pacific Division. Beck last week suspended the cadet program at those two divisions.

Beck said the arrested cadets on a number of occasions impersonated police officers and initiated traffic stops of motorists, although no one who was pulled over was handcuffed, had force used on them or was issued a
citation.

The cadet program has more than 2,300 active participants, and Beck continues to express support for the program. He said he still plans to attend the program's graduation ceremony at USC's Galen Center on Saturday, and he encouraged the media and public to attend "so they can see the other 2,200 cadets who so well served this city and are such good examples of young people in Los Angeles."

Cain, who had been assigned to the 77th Street Station for the past two years, was not formally involved in the cadet program, Beck said.

The officer now faces a personnel complaint that could lead to disciplinary action, including termination, a source told news media outlets.

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