Exclusive: Parents Speak Out Against Son's Fake Arrest

Sept. 27, 2010 — -- The scene looks real enough -- a San Jose, Calif., police officer in full uniform and holstered gun stands tall in black boots over a 15-year-old boy in handcuffs.

What has all the trappings of a criminal arrest is taking place in the home of Paul and Nicole Villarruel as they look on. They're told their son is being arrested for having sex with a minor.

But there was no arrest on Aug. 30 and now the Villarruels are accusing the officer of crossing the line between professional and personal conduct -- the officer's 14-year-old daughter is the girl involved in the relationship.

"He came up on him furious, he just came so close in his face," the boy's father, Paul Villarruel told "Good Morning America" in an exclusive interview. "I felt kind of helpless to stand there and watch. He took him in, started using explicits and went off on him."

The Villarruels caught part of the fake arrest on a cell phone video.

"You understand it's illegal to have underage sex?" the officer asks the boy in the video. "If I see you anywhere near my home, anywhere near my daughter, I'll arrest you... [It's] not a good thing that the person you had sex with is a cop's daughter."

Though the boy is handcuffed in the video, he was not arrested at the time. Both of the teens are facing misdemeanor charges relating to underage sex.

The officer, who is not being named to protect the identities of the minors involved, has been placed on adminstrative leave, according to ABC affiliate KGO-TV. The department is investigating.

The Villarruels said they had not had had contact with the officer prior to the incident and that the officer barged into the home after their 7-year-old answered the door.

"He walks in the house and says, 'Where is he? Where is he?,'" Paul Villarruel said.

Paul Villarruel said the officer was asking the boy if he would "take the rap" for his daughter, saying he'll be heading to prison.

Terry Bowman, a lawyer for the officer, told "GMA" the officer was in control the whole time.

"The officer is in control and is clearly concerned with the unlawful sexual relations the young man has had with the officer's daughter. He also advises the young man to stay in school, get good grades, and be respectful," Bowman said in a statement. "Every parent would agree this is sage advice."

'Scared Straight' or Abuse of Power?

Previously, Bowman stated that the parents were in on the fake arrest.

"The officer was essentially invited to use 'scare straight' tactics, and there were no objections to the lecture or the handcuffing," lawyer Terry Bowman over the weekend. "Everything was done in the spirit of reaching a troubled young man who is heading down the wrong path."

But former prosecutor Dean Johnson told "GMA" the tactic was certainly bad judgment, and possibly illegal.

"This officer in going to a home on his motorcycle in uniform to exercise what essentially what was his parental as opposed to police authority was very bad police practice and very bad judgment," Johnson said. "The real question here was, was it also a crime?"

"It's one thing... if he would've come over in t-shirt, jeans and in his own vehicle," Paul Villarruel said. "[If he] came to me as a parent, I would've dealt with him as a parent. That didn't happen. He came over dressed as an officer."

A lawyer for the Villarruels, Tony Boskovic, said that a lawsuit against the officer is likely to come.

The Villarruels said their son is sorry, but only for disappointing them.

"He's sorry for disappointing us, but there's a whole other aspect than that. This person came into his home... We couldn't help him. We couldn't protect him," Nicole Villarruel said. "He says he feels like someone is watching him all the time. This officer lives down the street from us."