Thread by @MiamiHerald

In 2015, a teenage girl told investigators that a decorated Hialeah patrol officer stopped her while she was walking home and ordered her to perform oral sex.

She was 14. (THREAD)

Hialeah Sgt. Jesús “Jesse” Menocal Jr. threatened to arrest the girl if she refused, saying she'd “disappear” if she ever told anyone what happened.

Investigators asked why she seemed so afraid.

“Because he is still out there.” hrld.us/32M8tLF

She's not alone.

There were three other women and girls who accused Menocal, 31, of sexual assault — one said he handcuffed her while masturbating in his police truck — according to hundreds of pages of public records.

We looked into them.

Here's what we found:

• Menocal had brought another 8 women and girls into a Hialeah police station w/o filing any reports

• He denied the allegations

• Internal affairs investigators gathered evidence that he had committed “unlawful sexual activity” with minors

The evidence of his “unlawful sexual activity” with minors was handed to the Hialeah Police chief and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

But Menocal faced almost no punishment, from state prosecutors or the police chief.

In June 2015, Menocal was removed from the SWAT team and placed on paid administrative assignment hours after a 17-year-old came forward.

Months later, he returned to SWAT, restoring a 5% pay bump.

Oh, and he was recommended for a merit raise, too.

Did the police and prosecutors do their jobs?

A former head of Miami-Dade police's special investigations division doesn't think so.

He said the similarity of the stories should have prompted the department — if not prosecutors — to take firm disciplinary action.

For now, Menocal has bigger worries.

He's under investigation by the FBI, who are building a criminal civil rights case against him. hrld.us/32M8tLF

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