Policeman's arraignment today.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

When Eugene police officer Juan Francisco Lara appears in Lane County Circuit Court today, he won't be testifying about an arrest or providing evidence in a criminal trial.

Instead, Lara himself will be arraigned on criminal charges including sex abuse, coercion, public indecency and official misconduct.

Lara, a 29-year-old father of two young boys, was arrested Tuesday at his Eugene home. The police department that hired him 2 1/2 years ago now accuses the former Marine of coercing four women he met on the job into providing him sexual favors over the past two years.

His attorney says he did nothing illegal. And Lara's family, including his wife, Margaret, pulled together $25,000 to post bail and get him out of the Lane County Jail the evening of his arrest, a move that postponed his planned arraignment until today.

Police on Wednesday released no new details about Lara's case. They also remained silent regarding the separate, unrelated criminal investigation of officer Roger Eugene Magana, 40, who is accused of similar activity. Magana has not been charged with any crime, and both men remained on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of their respective internal inves- tigations.

The FBI has assigned agents to monitor the investigations into both officers' alleged activities, said senior agent Mike Morrow, who heads the Eugene office. The Eugene Police Department and the Lane County district attorney's office have been cooperating with the FBI, he said.

The bureau gets involved in cases of possible violation of the federal "color of law" civil rights statute that protects citizens from abuse at the hands of law enforcement, Morrow said. That abuse usually takes the form of excessive force or sexual exploitation, he said. Agents either monitor the local department's investigation, or conduct their own parallel inquiry that can be used to bring federal charges against the accused.

"Most agencies are very thorough because they want to ensure their house is in order," Morrow said. "Police departments generally do a good job of policing their own."

He said cases like Lara's and Magana's are less common than excessive force investigations.

Samuel Walker, a professor who specializes in police misconduct issues at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, said a recent survey of media reports about officer misconduct shows sexual abuse at the hands of police is on the rise nationwide.

The survey, released in June, found 123 cases of police sexual abuse of women in the previous 12 months. The victims included people vulnerable to a police officer's authority - women stopped for traffic violations, prostitutes and teen-age girls.

"We drew the conclusion that, yes, there is a national pattern," Walker said. "There's a bigger problem with people not reporting abuse, and that speaks to the openness of departments about receiving reports of this kind."

But, Walker said, there's no indication that abuse at the hands of police is more prevalent than abuse among other professions such as coaches, clergy and medical doctors.

In Lara's case, a friend of one of the alleged victims contacted the district attorney's office on July 7. The subsequent investigation revealed three separate incidents involving four women. Lara allegedly met the women in two of the cases while responding to calls for service at each of their respective homes. Interim police Chief Thad Buchanan said Lara later "used his position as a police officer to initiate sexual contact while on duty and in uniform with these women."

In the third incident, Lara allegedly encountered two women as they left a downtown bar at closing time. The alleged sexual contact again occurred while he was on duty and in uniform, the chief said.

The department began its investigation of Magana after a woman reported on June 10 that Magana had made inappropriate sexual contact with her, Buchanan said. Investigators believe there are other victims, he said. Magana's attorney says his client is innocent of the allegations and will be exonerated.

The Walker study recommended that agencies clearly define sexual misconduct and institute oversight procedures to guard against future occurrences, something Oregon State Police did in the wake of similar allegations in 1994.

"Our policy states flatly that no member shall engage in sexual activity as defined under the Oregon Revised Statutes regarding sex offenses while they're in uniform and on duty," state police Sgt. Mike Bloom said. "What we choose to do in our private lives is our business, but when we're conducting ourselves as a state policeman, we hold ourselves to a very high standard of behavior."

Eugene and Springfield police rely on broader policies to guide officer conduct. Several provisions in Springfield's rules order officers to avoid any conduct on or off duty that is unbecoming to a police officer, that will bring discredit to the department, or that violates any federal, state or local law.

The Eugene police manual demands that officers obey all laws, be honest, conduct themselves in a moral way, exercise integrity and good judgement, avoid all unbecoming activity, use department resources efficiently and effectively, and tell the truth.

Neither department has a policy that specifically addresses sexual misconduct.

"There are some things that are so obviously wrong that you don't have to spell them out," Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith said.