02:48 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2004

Associated Press

EUGENE -- A former Eugene police officer coerced five more women to perform sex acts than originally disclosed, according to newly available details released after a just-brokered plea deal.

Juan Francisco Lara, who abused seven women in all, also used the police department's database to get background information on other victims, according to court records.

(kgw.com Graphic)

The new details are included in amended charges that stemmed from a plea deal late Tuesday that led to Lara's conviction on a series of crimes. The deal, brokered by Judge David Brewer of the Oregon Court of Appeals in Salem, came after business hours with no public notice.

Court officials on Wednesday defended the behind-the-scenes process as the most efficient way to handle the case under the circumstances and said it shouldn't be seen as giving favoritism to a former officer.

Lara was convicted on one count each of harassment and public indecency and four counts each of coercion and official misconduct.

Prosecutors dropped three sexual abuse charges, two of them felonies and one a misdemeanor, and left sentencing to the discretion of a judge.

Lara, 29, faces a sentence ranging from probation to more than 20 years in prison.

When he was arrested in August, Lara was still on the police force and faced charges that he coerced two women into performing sexual favors for him while he was on the job and in uniform.

One of the new charges reveals that Lara illegally used the law enforcement Area Information Records System database 15 times to do background checks on an undisclosed number of people including victims in the case.

Another charge shows that Lara used information from the database to approach one victim by saying they could "work something out" to make her criminal charges disappear.