… “We are here because we’d like other victims to come forward and not to be afraid,” one victim said during a news conference announcing legal action against the county.
“We just want justice because, as you see and hear, there’s crimes being done. Inside the jails is horrors being done to us,” another said. The victims were only identified by their initials during the news conference.
Attorneys claim the department tried to cover up Heidecker’s crimes, and that county officials were offering a settlement agreement the day before the former deputy turned himself in.
“Knocking on their doors offering them $1,000 to keep their mouth shut, so that they don’t sue the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for allowing that animal to continue to victimize them while he has control in their custody,” attorney Denisse Gastelum, who represents the two victims, said. …