WEST SACRAMENTO. (AP) — A police officer is in jail after being indicted on suspicion of sexually assaulting six women while on duty in West Sacramento.

The Sacramento Bee reported that 37-year-old Sergio Alvarez was arrested Monday after a 5-month investigation. Alvarez, who is married and a father, is alleged to have assaulted the women after stopping them late at night or early in the morning while on patrol.

His indictment, unsealed Tuesday, includes 35 counts of rape, sodomy, oral copulation and kidnapping for crimes in 2011 and 2012.

The investigation began Sept. 24 after a woman reported to another officer that she had been sexually assaulted by a uniformed policeman.

The probe unearthed five others with similar claims, police said. The Yolo County district attorney convened a grand jury, which indicted Alvarez.

West Sacramento police Chief Dan Drummond said Alvarez, who had been on the force since 2007, had been served with termination papers. His bail was set at $26.3 million.

"I'm personally just appalled and sick that someone who was put in a position of trust would violate that trust in such a despicable an egregious manner," Drummond said.

Drummond said the victims ranged in age from 20 to 47 years old, and that some of the alleged assaults occurred inside Alvarez' patrol car. The indictment stated that two of the victims were allegedly assaulted on more than one occasion.

Patrol officers in West Sacramento typically work alone, the chief said.