SAN DIEGO -- A "rogue cop" forced a prostitute into his car on El Cajon Boulevard and then sexually assaulted her in a Mission Valley parking lot, a prosecutor said today, but a defense attorney said the deputy sheriff never put his hands on the woman.

Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Dort said in his closing argument that Thomas Sadler had a plan to sexually assault the prostitute during a search for drugs, but ran into a problem when he didn't find any.

Sadler assaulted the prostitute just as he had sexually assaulted four other women during searches dating back to 2001, the prosecutor told jurors.

But Sadler's attorney, Mary Ellen Attridge, said the prostitute got into Sadler's unmarked car on her own about 11 a.m. on Feb. 6, 2008.

"When she smiled and he smiled back, she thought of money," Attridge said.

Sadler "like a fool" drove to a Mission Valley parking lot, but backed out of the proposed sex with the prostitute, Attridge said.

"He thought, 'What in God's name am I doing?'" his attorney said.

Sadler testified Tuesday that he thought of his wife of 22 years and didn't want to go through with his original plan.

But Dort told the jury that Sadler had a history of pulling over women he had contacted before, searching them for drugs with no one around and touching them in their private areas.

The prosecutor told the jury the 49-year-old defendant was "a rogue cop" who thought he was above the law. Sadler planned to search the prostitute and sexually assault her "because he had gotten away with it before," Dort said.

"You know what he was doing, and you know why," the prosecutor told the jury, which began deliberations in the courtroom of Judge Michael Smyth.

Attridge said the prosecution was relying on "unreliable" drug addicts, felons and prostitutes to convict a 20-year deputy sheriff for something that "did not occur."

The attorney said Sadler admitted to making very poor choices but did not sexually assault the prostitute, who was on probation at the time.

Attridge said the prostitute became irritated when Sadler showed his badge and ordered her out of the car in the Mission Valley parking lot.

Sadler took the woman's cell phone away when she tried to take a picture of his license plate, Attridge said.

"This was a business deal gone bad by a foolish middle-age man and a very sad young woman with a very dicey job," Attridge told the jury.

Sadler faces up to four years in state prison if convicted of sexual assault by restraint, assault and battery by an officer and false imprisonment.