A former Emeryville police officer resigned in 2014 after investigators found he had improper interactions with sex workers and was dishonest when questioned about those interactions, records released late Thursday show.
Documents reveal that a woman working as a confidential informant for investigators told them that former officer Joshua Patterson asked another sex worker to "secure a 14-year-old female for sex."
The informant told investigators that she heard two other sex workers talking about Patterson and one told the other, "Patterson likes her but wants a younger girl to join them," and to set up an encounter at a Motel 6. The informant said that the juvenile couldn't be found, and the planned encounter never happened, according to the documents.
Patterson could not be reached for comment. The attorney who represented him in his disciplinary proceeding didn't return a message Thursday. Emeryville Police Chief Jennifer Tejada also did not return messages.
In one instance, which appears to have been part of a "sting" designed to catch Patterson, documents show that while on duty he picked up a sex worker who was cooperating with police and drove her around in his patrol vehicle. An investigator wrote that he was able to hear over a “cellphone wire” as Patterson asked how much she would charge him for sex, according to the documents.
She responded "$60, but $50 for you and $40" for oral sex. But Patterson didn't go through with the act, saying he didn't want to take off his uniform in case a call came in.
