Beaten and raped | City employee says San Diego City Attorney's Office ignored her pleas for help

Monica knows trauma. For most of her childhood, Monica was sexually abused. As a young adult, Monica became involved in commercial prostitution.

In her 30s, Monica turned her life around. She began working as a counselor for sexual assault victims. She spoke to victims and participated in a documentary on human trafficking as a way to empower people like her.

In 2019, Monica accepted a job with the San Diego City Attorney's Office as a Victim Services Coordinator to help connect victims of domestic violence and sex crimes to programs as well as serve as their advocate.

Monica tells CBS 8 that the City Attorney staff knew her troubled past and applauded her courage and openness.

In July 2021, Monica began working in the City Attorney's Gun Violence Response Unit, which is located at the city's domestic abuse crisis center, Your Safe Place. Monica then accepted a full-time position in the Gun Violence Response Unit in early 2022. 

Several months after she accepted the position, Monica says the city hired former San Diego Police Sergeant, Derek Diaz as an investigator working on gun violence restraining orders. 

According to media reports and the San Diego Police Department, Diaz was a highly recognized officer who worked with the department from 1987 through 2016. 

During his time with the San Diego Police Department, Diaz specialized in defense tactics. He served as a sniper on the SWAT team. In 1996, the department awarded Diaz the Medal of Valor for his actions during a shootout with a suspect, where both Diaz and his partner were wounded. Since retiring from SDPD, Diaz worked as a use of force expert for the Chula Vista Police Department as well as the San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute. 

But according to Monica, who was assigned to work as Diaz's subordinate at the City Attorney's Office, the decorated police sergeant has a documented history of domestic violence. A past, says Monica, the City Attorney's Office negligently overlooked.

In an October 2021 restraining order obtained by CBS 8, Diaz's ex-wife accused the longtime officer of threatening to kill her and dispose of her body.

"[Diaz] told me that if I cheated on him or left him he was a police officer and he knew how to get rid of a body in the desert; he told me this countless times," reads the restraining order. "He told me if I called the police, it wouldn't matter because he was a police officer."

Diaz's ex-wife also accused him of sexually assaulting her several times and alleged that he convinced authorities to place her on a month-long mental health hold, which resulted in a non-diagnosis from doctors. 

CBS 8 spoke to sources close to the former couple and they confirmed reports of abuse by Diaz.

Monica told CBS 8 he did much of the same to her. 

In 2022, the City Attorney hired Diaz to work as an investigator for the department's Gun Violence Restraining Order Unit. 

Shortly after getting hired, Diaz was tasked with training Monica on different interview techniques. It was then, said Monica, that Diaz used his position to intimidate and groom her.

Monica claimed Diaz criticized her and ordered her to go to lunch with him to further discuss the training.

During the near-daily lunches, Monica said Diaz forbade her to pay for her food. 

"I wanted to pay for myself. And he said, 'No, he would pay,'" Monica told CBS 8. "I said it wasn't appropriate in our work environment that we're public officials. We have to maintain professional integrity. And he said, 'No, it's not a problem.'"

Around April 2022, Monica said Diaz grew protective of her. 

"He told me that he knew why God brought him here and put me into his life," Monica recounted. "He'd say things like, 'I'm here to protect you. I'm here to watch over you.' I told him that I didn't get any kind of memo from God and that I knew how to protect myself but he insisted that he was here to be my protector and my defender. Looking back it was my first sign. At the time I felt like I pushed back enough. It turns out, I didn't."

Monica told CBS 8 that despite clear signs of Diaz's desire to dominate and control her, she ended up getting romantically involved with him in April 2022.

The intimacy, she said, soon took a concerning turn.

"By May," said Monica, "he was taking [sex] by force. He would take money out of the bank and throw hundreds of dollars at me and say, 'This is how you used to have it in your past. So here it is. Now, I'm going to take the sex that I want. You don't understand that I'm training you to be a good Christian wife. We're going to be married by June.'"

When she objected and resisted, Monica said Diaz spun it to paint him as her savior.

"He would tell me that I didn't understand because I was a victim of human trafficking and a child sex assault survivor. He told me that I didn't know what a good man looks like," said Monica.

Monica said that Diaz grew more and more violent with each passing week. Within two months of their relationship, he was drugging her and forcing himself on her, telling her that she was like cocaine to him. When she tried to break it off, Monica said he warned her what would come next.

"He told me that no one would believe me. He said, 'I'm a Medal of Valor winner. I'm invincible and I'm untouchable and no one's going to believe you.'"

Monica said she had no reason to doubt his claims.

Around the same time, Monica said Diaz confessed he had assaulted dozens of women while working as a Sergeant in the San Diego Police Department's Human Trafficking Task Force. At one point, according to Monica, Diaz told her he "slept with 30 women in one week" and there was no way he was ever going to prison.

Meanwhile, the abuse and assaults continued.

In August 2022, Monica said Diaz held her hostage in his camping trailer in Ramona for days. He drugged her and raped her. When she tried to leave she said he kicked her multiple times.

In the days that followed the incident, both Diaz and Monica filed police reports and notified the City Attorney's Office.

"During an argument [Monica] had an emotional outburst and slapped, punched [me] several times to face, chest, groin, and bit me on back of shoulder when I turned my face away," reads the restraining order.

Meanwhile, Monica reported the rape and physical assault to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department as well to her boss at the city, Supervising Deputy City Attorney Jeff Brooker.

"They ignored me," said Monica, speaking of the Sheriff's Department and the City Attorney's Office. "They said there was a conflict of interest."

Added Monica, "By reporting Diaz to the City Attorney's Office, I thought that I was going to be listened to and that something would be done but they just turned around and made it seem like it was my fault, that there was nothing they could do about it. Even at the time, it felt like a cover-up."

Monica told CBS 8 that the City Attorney's Office opened an investigation into her for reporting the assault. 

As for Diaz's domestic violence report, Monica told CBS 8 that she was interviewed once.

"The detective called me and I told him that Diaz was a reserve police officer for the San Diego Police Department. He works as an investigator for the city attorney, a use of force expert for the Chula Vista Police Department, and a defensive tactics trainer for the San Diego Regional Public Safety Training Institute. I'm not even five feet tall? Do you think I'm capable of harming somebody who's so well trained?" 

As for the rape investigation, Monica said the San Diego County Sheriff's Department did not conduct one.

In September 2022, the City Attorney's Office told Monica that Diaz had resigned from his position. 

In May 2024, Monica filed a civil lawsuit against the City of San Diego for failing to address her reports of assault and also against Diaz.

"I tell victims every single day that you might not find justice in a courtroom. And you have to find it in your healing journey. I haven't even been able to get on a healing journey. Because I haven't had the time to process any of it. In addition to being raped and beat up, I was shamed by the city attorney for coming forward. I've been retaliated against. I've been ostracized," said Monica who continues to work as an advocate for the city.

And while Monica wants accountability, so too does Mr. Diaz.

Over several emails and phone calls, Diaz denied the allegations stating that Monica was jealous and mentally unstable.

 Diaz shared texts between him and Monica where she lashed out at Diaz for allegedly cheating on her while other text messages express her devotion to him.

In a phone call with CBS 8, Diaz said Monica was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time and is now trying to get back at him.

"The allegations of assault from [Monica] are false," said Diaz. "Two years ago, I filed a crime report with the Sheriff, where I was the victim of being bitten and physically assaulted. I obtained a restraining order. Soon after [she] was served with the restraining order, she filed a police report and sent emails to every place I worked, as well as texts and emails to family, friends, and church, to publicly shame me. There is no truth to [these] allegations. I am one of several people she has targeted in an attempt to shame or ruin their reputations publicly."

A City Attorney's Office spokesperson told CBS 8 that it could not comment due to pending litigation but confirmed that both Diaz and Brooker, then Supervising Deputy City Attorney to who Monica first reported the rapes to are no longer working for the city.

A spokesperson for the District Attorney was unable to confirm whether or not an investigation into Diaz has been launched.