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Maynard Richardson, 35, a Des Moines police officer, was fired and convicted of two serious misdemeanors after he detained an intoxicated 22-year-old woman in the back of his patrol car, drove her to a deserted warehouse area and climbed on top of her in 2010, according to Iowa court records. A felony count of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse was dismissed under his plea agreement, and he was never convicted of a sex offense.

The woman reported the encounter to the Des Moines Police Department at about 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2010, several hours after it happened, Radio Iowa reported. In the recording, she says she needs to make a report and asks that a female officer be sent to take it.

According to minutes of testimony summarized by the Iowa Court of Appeals, three officers, including Richardson, were sent to a reported fight at about 2 a.m. The woman had been drinking and was advised not to drive, so one officer took her to another location to phone for a ride while Richardson followed in a second car, as department procedure required. She could not reach anyone, walked back to her car and had driven a short distance when Richardson pulled her over.

Richardson gave her a breath test, told her she had failed and handcuffed her, saying she was going to jail, the court's summary states. He then removed the handcuffs so she could lock her car. When she got back to the patrol car, he asked her, "What would you be willing to do to not go to jail?" He put her in the back seat and drove to a deserted warehouse area, where he got in the back, lay on top of her, kissed her and grabbed her face. She pushed him away, and he drove her home and told her to keep quiet.

Police Chief Judy Bradshaw fired Richardson on Feb. 24, 2010, saying he had violated six department policies covering conduct, lawfulness and ethics, Radio Iowa reported. Richardson, who joined the department in December 2008, had been suspended for two days in 2009 over inappropriate comments to a woman. Bradshaw said no other complaints came in after that suspension.

On the day his trial was to begin in May 2010, Richardson pleaded guilty to nonfelonious misconduct in office and false imprisonment, both serious misdemeanors, and prosecutors dropped the felony. He stipulated that he had no reasonable basis for putting the woman in the back of a squad car that had no interior door handles. At sentencing she said she had panic attacks and nightmares and feared officers, telling the court the incident had "destroyed my life."

District Judge Arthur Gamble refused Richardson's request for a deferred judgment, which would have kept the convictions off his record, and imposed suspended jail terms, probation and a $315 fine on each count plus a 35 percent surcharge. Gamble said a deferred judgment "would unduly depreciate the serious nature of these crimes." The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the sentence on Feb. 23, 2011, rejecting Richardson's argument that the judge had improperly weighed his job as a police officer.