Brianna Ortega stayed home for the entire three minutes when she heard her fist hitting the door.
She opened it and was about to break into her La Quinta home, claiming that the Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy “a black man with a dreadlock jumped over a backyard fence,” according to court records.
Almost immediately, 29-year-old Ortega was there for other reasons, Deputy Eric Piscaterra was there. It wasn’t the first time they met last summer. According to arrest affidavits and civil lawsuit allegations, it was not the first time he had appeared at her home without notice.
“You look beautiful without makeup…I’m sorry, but I don’t mean that I’m rude or not an expert,” Piscatella said. According to incident records, it was after spending seconds looking out the window for the suspect.
According to the affidavit and lawsuit, it was the fourth time Piscaterra had appeared at Ortega’s house or contacted her without a legitimate law enforcement purpose. Ortega shared a text message indicating that the lieutenant had cheated on her and tried to ask her on a date, but she refused him every turn.
Last year, Riverside County prosecutors charged 30-year-old Piscaterra with seven counts of illegally using a law enforcement database to search for information about Ortega.
But instead of resolving the situation, Ortega says the way Piscatella’s case took place in the Criminal Court only extended her ordeal.
Ortega said she was “terrified” Piscatella and refused to testify against him. In July, a Riverside County judge downgraded all charges against Piscaterra to misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty and avoided prison time and took probation.
Last month, Ortega filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Piscaterra, Department, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
“I feel he’s got a misdemeanor, but nothing will change… If that’s what I need (submit this case), then I’ll do that if it helps,” she said.
Piscatella declined to comment through his defense attorney.
A Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Piscatella resigned last October after getting a job for about five years. His ability to work as a police officer in California has been suspended, and findings say he can recover without a felony conviction.
Ortega recalled his initial break-in with Piscatella as innocent enough.
She was attending what she described as a “family fair” with her two sons at Coachella in September 2023. According to Ortega, Piscatella was among them, but he said he had a polite and unforgettable conversation.
They did not exchange contact information, but a few months later, in January 2024, Ortega said she had received texts from unknown numbers.
Texter claimed to be her “personal officer.” Ortega, a fitness influencer with over 100,000 followers on Tiktok and Instagram, receives random, flirty messages from men. So she shrugged it.
That same month, Piscaterra searched Ortega’s name and city of La Quinta in both California’s law enforcement communications systems and in the databases of other sheriffs, according to court records. In Ortega’s civil lawsuit, she argued that this was how Fiscaterra followed her.
A month later, Piscatella appeared at La Quinta’s house in Ortega while she was at work, according to the lawsuit. Her mother answered the door and “worried” when her lieutenant questioned where her daughter was. Still, Ortega didn’t bother me.
“I’m a police officer and he shouldn’t go that crazy. He has power for a reason. Of course, he knows where I live,” she said.
Reflecting her claims in her lawsuit, she added:
Ortega was so embarrassed that she actually went to Piscatella a month later for help. Her sister was the victim of the assault and had a hard time getting attention from the Sheriff’s Office. So Ortega contacted the man who claimed to be her “personal officer.”
However, when Ortega began to be described as a crime, Piscatella responded by asking her to send a “selfie” and insisting that she should go to the gym with her. Ortega ultimately changed her numbers, according to text messages.
According to court records, Piscatella uses a law enforcement database to maintain the Ortega tab in the next few months. According to court records, in May 2024, he searched her name and ran the license plate. He did the same thing in July. Just before he showed up at Ortega’s house, he claims he saw a man intruding in.
At that point, Piscatella’s interest in Ortega had turned into an “obsession” according to her lawsuit. Since he arrived just minutes after she returned from her trip to San Diego, Ortega said it felt like Piscatella was “waiting for me.” She alleges in the lawsuit that the agent “used law enforcement resources and databases… to steal her.”
After putting him in, she secretly recorded the aide standing in her living room and spoke to her children. In the lawsuit, Ortega said that she was “confusing, scary, uncomfortable” especially after Piscatella asked for her new number.
According to a message reviewed by The Times, Piscatella texted her a little later, describing her children as “very cool.”
“I’m not used to everything that happened. Please don’t contact me again,” Ortega wrote back.
She filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office that day. Court records show that the department began an internal investigation and quickly determined that Piscaterra used a law enforcement database to search information about Ortega several times.
The affidavit shows that Piscaterra appeared at Ortega’s house and “no corresponding service call” related to the day that someone allegedly had broken in.
Riverside County prosecutors filed seven felony charges against Piscatella.
Ortega said he refused to testify because he feared that Piscatella and fellow aides would seek retaliation against her, even if the sheriff’s department presented his case.
At a July court hearing in Indio, Piscaterra openly pleaded to a court that tried to curb each charge to misdemeanor and avoid prison time, according to the transcript of the case.
Riverside County Deputy District. Atty. Natasha Soles appealed to Judge Helios J. Hernandez of Superior Court to not accept fewer charges.
“The defendant was a police officer. He was a sheriff’s deputy and the position of power and the information he accessed as a result of that position, which made someone in the community safe and extremely terrorized,” Soles said.
“He searched for information – he conducted a search for a particular individual and used that information to come up with an excuse to enter the woman’s home.
However, Hernandez tried to further discuss her attempts. In his view, “Nothing really happened.”
“He never broke into the house, threatened her or threatened her,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez sentenced Piscatella to probation and community service, and ordered him to stay away from Ortega. Records show that the prosecutor appealed the decision.
A spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office wouldn’t say whether refusal to testify has affected her ability to bring about other charges, including stalking allegations she made in the civil suit.
A Riverside County Sheriff’s spokesman declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
The whole ordeal left Ortega who felt like law enforcement had failed her at all levels. She pointed out that Piscatella still knows where she lives.
She previously had no negative views of police, but now she says she turns other directions and is worried whenever she sees cruisers in the sheriff’s department.
“It’s a betrayal of trust from law enforcement… Who do you call when the police have the problem?” asked her lawyer, Jamal Tucson. “When can you feel safe? You feel trapped in your own home.”
