Former cop receives probation in sex case

A former Metro Police officer was sentenced to five years probation, 45 days in jail and one year of home arrest Tuesday for using his position to coerce sex from two prostitutes in 1997.

Arthur Lee Sewall Jr., 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of oppression under the color of office in exchange for first-degree kidnapping and sexual assault charges being dismissed.

District Court Judge Jeffrey Sobel also ordered Sewall to submit DNA samples for submission to a sex offender database, perform 16 hours of community service a month and attend sex offender counseling sessions.

Sewall's jail time must be served within the first two years of his probation.

Should Sewall fail to abide by the terms of his probation, he could get between three and eight years in prison, said Teresa Lowry, Clark County deputy district attorney.

Lowry argued for the jail term, saying that probation by itself was not punitive enough especially when one takes into consideration the damage done to Metro's reputation.

"Sex against your will is still sex against your will," whether you are a prostitute or not, Lowry argued.

Defense attorneys Christopher Oram and Clarence Gamble argued their client should receive probation alone. They pointed out that videotape placed in evidence seems to indicate one of the victims willingly offered to perform oral sex on Sewall to get out of an arrest on drug charges.

Sobel said he has a hard time believing that the women would have come forward, knowing the credibility problems they would have, if their allegations weren't true.

According to authorities, one of the victims said an off-duty Sewall picked her up, drove her to a deserted alley and asked her what she would do in exchange for not going to jail. The woman said Sewall, whom she recognized as a police officer from earlier contacts with him, then sexually assaulted her.

The second victim told police that Sewall caught her with drug paraphernalia, made her take him to her apartment and then forced her to perform oral sex on him.

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