Ex-Windsor Mayor Ordered to Pay $12.6M After Jury Finds He Sexually Assaulted 7 Women

Seven plaintiffs were awarded a combined $12.6 million in damages in a civil case against former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, who was publicly accused by 13 women of sexual assault or misconduct in 2021.

The verdict came after a seven-week trial in Sonoma County Superior Court, where the seven women described sexual assaults they said occurred between 2001 and 2020. As the Chronicle reports, their accounts included allegations of groping, rape, and being assaulted while incapacitated by alcohol or drugs.

The allegations first became public in 2021, when four women came forward in a Chronicle investigation. Dominic Foppoli, 44, then a rising Sonoma County political figure who inherited his family's Christopher Creek Winery, resigned as Windsor mayor that May. Ultimately, 13 women, including Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, publicly accused him of sexual assault or misconduct.

Criminal investigations followed, including a search of Foppoli's home by Sonoma County sheriff's detectives in November 2021. The criminal case was handled by the California Attorney General's Office under Rob Bonta, as one of the accusers worked as a prosecutor for the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office. Criminal charges were ultimately suspended in 2024 for lack of evidence, and Foppoli has not been criminally charged.

According to the Chronicle, the civil lawsuit, originally filed in 2022 and amended in 2025, alleged sexual assault and battery, gender and domestic violence, defamation, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The seven plaintiffs also sued Christopher Creek Winery and the national organization affiliated with Active 20-30, but both reached confidential settlements before the trial.

During the civil trial, the jury heard evidence about Foppoli's relationships with the women and the people around him, including text messages that plaintiffs' attorney Traci Carrillo presented as evidence of his attitude toward women and alcohol. In one message, Foppoli wrote, “You don't need roofies if you give them enough wine.”

The Chronicle reports that Jane Doe 1 began dating Foppoli at 18 and testified that he abused her repeatedly during their four-year relationship. Jane Doe 7, a political colleague of Foppoli’s, said Foppoli drugged and sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious in February 2020, then drugged her again that August, when a sexual encounter involving one of his associates was recorded without her knowledge at Christopher Creek Winery.

The jury also reportedly found Foppoli liable for defaming Jane Doe 7 after she called for his resignation, with evidence that he enlisted lobbyist Robert Stryk in an effort to damage her reputation. Santa Rosa Vice Mayor Jeff Okrepkie testified that Foppoli showed him a video of Jane Doe 7, with Foppoli saying, “Now she'll never run against me.”

The testimony prompted Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins to criticize the political culture surrounding Foppoli, saying he “was given a pass by a whole lot of elected officials and prominent community leaders,” per the Chronicle.

The jury also found the Santa Rosa chapter of Active 20-30 liable for the assault of Jane Doe 4 and awarded her an additional $2 million. She alleged that club members had been warned about Foppoli's behavior and that the organization failed to investigate after she reported being assaulted at a national convention.

The jury's $12.6 million award was divided among the seven women, with the largest amounts going to Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 7. The calculations included lost wages, therapy, medical expenses, and other financial impacts the women experienced.

Per the Chronicle, the jury began deliberating Thursday after Judge Dana Simonds spent nearly two hours reading the legal instructions governing the claims. The jury read the verdict Friday.

The jury is expected to consider punitive damages in the coming days. Foppoli reportedly remains the owner of Christopher Creek Winery near Healdsburg and lives part-time in Italy.

Foppoli denied the allegations throughout the case, maintaining that the sexual encounters described by the women either did not happen or were consensual. He testified repeatedly during the trial, arguing that some of the women had pursued him and accusing the plaintiffs of joining together to exaggerate their claims.

He also faces a separate sexual assault lawsuit from former Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, who alleges that Foppoli raped her at a March 2021 house party in Florida, and that case is expected to go to trial in Florida early next year. Foppoli's wine company previously settled a separate lawsuit brought by a Montana woman who alleged that Foppoli raped her multiple times in 2020 when she was 18.

Previously: Civil Trial Begins for Former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, Accused of Assaulting Multiple Women