Prosecutor details case against cop accused of raping transsexual

MySanAntonio.com – Guillermo Contreras – Express-News Staff Writer

Gabriel Bernal stands 5 feet tall, weighs 100 pounds and lives as a woman.

But to suspended San Antonio Police Officer Dean Gutierrez, who is accused of raping Bernal while on duty, Bernal was nothing but a sexual object, prosecutors contended as Gutierrez went on trial Tuesday.

“He took Gabe into his custody using a municipal warrant, kidnapped him in his car and took him to a dead-end street next to some railroad tracks, and he … raped him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baumann told jurors in opening statements. “He did all of that wearing the uniform of the San Antonio Police Department, a badge, a gun … All of the things we clothed him in.”