Ex-Windsor mayor Dominic Foppoli was accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen women, but the state AG’s office says they don’t have the evidence to prosecute him, though several accusers’ civil cases will still proceed.
The big wine country political scandal of 2021 was the mayor of Windsor (in Sonoma County) being accused of sexual assault by more than 12 women. Among Foppoli’s many accusers were a former mayor of Sonoma, a former Windsor city councilmember, and reality TV star and Teen Mom personality Farrah Abraham. Foppoli resigned as mayor in May 2021, and has since been chased off to his wealthy family’s castle in Italy.
But it appears all of the criminal charges in these alleged assaults are being dropped, or rather “suspended.” The Chronicle reports that state Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office will not pursue criminal charges against Foppoli, saying the evidence they have is inadequate for a case.
“We reviewed the investigation done by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s office as well as conducted our own additional investigation. At this time, we don’t have enough evidence to warrant filing charges on the cases not barred by the statute of limitations,” a spokesperson for the AG’s office said in a statement to the Chronicle. “However, our investigation remains open, and we urge anyone who believes they may be a victim or who has evidence to come forward.”
(The state AG’s office stepped in, as one of the accusers was a prosecutor for the Sonoma County DA’s office, so that office recused itself from the investigation.)
Some of the accusers spoke with the Chronicle, and were not happy about the news.
“It just made me really sad,” former Sonoma Mayor Rachel Hundley told the paper. Hundley had accused Foppoli with regards to a 2015 incident. “Here is another man in power who hurt women and even the California attorney general wasn’t going to be able to hold him accountable.”
Foppoli himself emailed a response to the Chronicle, which that paper described as “a lengthy, wide-ranging emailed statement.”
“There were some women involved in this that I cared for and had real relationships with that I realized I must have hurt bad enough that they would join in on something like this,” he told the paper. “I have come to realize through a lot of prayer and reflection over the last 3 years that especially in my younger years I was not an ideal partner. To them I apologize.”
Foppoli still faces three civil lawsuits over the alleged assaults: one from seven of his accusers, another from Farrah Abraham, and a third from a Montana woman who was 18 when she says he assaulted her in 2020.
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