Mayor: Investigate sex misconduct claims

After cases involving code inspector and police officer, Liccardo sees failure in official processes

SAN JOSE >> Following the sexualassault conviction of a disgraced city code inspector and multiple sexual misconduct allegations against a police officer, Mayor Sam Liccardo called for an investigation into whether the San Jose Police Department acted swiftly enough to keep them away from the public after they were accused of wrongdoing.

“It's clear that something failed with regard to each of these two cases and that we must do better,” Liccardo said at a Monday news conference. “It's my intention to get to the bottom of it and very clearly ensure that the public has an understanding of what we're doing differently so that we never see this happen again.”

Former code inspector William Gerry was sentenced last week to 35 years in prison for abusing his power in order to extort sex and solicit bribes from massage business owners. Police Officer Matthew Dominguez is currently being prosecuted on allegations that he masturbated in front of a family while responding to a call last month.

Gerry, 47, and Dominguez, 32, were both on the radar of the San

Jose Police Department for more than a year before they were arrested for predatory behavior but were allowed to continue working in their public-facing roles. After initial complaints were made against them, they were both accused of more misconduct.

At the news conference, Liccardo requested that the city's Independent Police Auditor conduct a review and publicly report on what steps police did or did not take after receiving initial complaints about each employee. He also asked for the city manager to publicly disclose what policies the city is implementing in order to better handle any future complaints and investigations into alleged criminal conduct from other city employees.

While noting that public employees have a right to a full and fair investigation, Liccardo added that city officials and the public have the right to know why the two employees were not placed on leave or reassigned to desk duty after initial complaints, in order to minimize the risk of harm to community members.

Police Chief Anthony Mata and City Manager Jennifer Maguire both said during the news conference Monday that they welcomed the review.

“We have to learn from mistakes that have been made and we need to have the public have 100% trust in our police department and with all of our employees,” Maguire said.

Prior to his arrest earlier this month, Dominguez was the subject of a May 2021 sexual assault investigation after he was accused of drunkenly groping a woman at a party at the home of another police officer, as first reported last week by this news organization. The alleged victim in that case — Jennifer Rodrigues, 25, of Menlo Park — said that the outcome of the investigation was never shared with her and that police “hadn't really asked any other follow-up questions or updated us.”

Dominguez, who has been a San Jose police officer for four years, was not placed on leave during the investigation into the allegation and continued to work on the front line until earlier this month, when he was arrested for exposing himself in front of a family, according to Mata. He is now on paid administrative leave.

Separately, Gerry served as the sole code inspector assigned to the city's massage enforcement program from 2017 to 2019 and worked closely with the city's police department.

The city's massage enforcement program is tasked with ensuring businesses have proper permits, closing illicit massage parlors and preventing human trafficking.

Between October 2018 and March 2019, four complaints were submitted to the city regarding Gerry's misconduct. At least one of the complaints included photos and the names of specific businesses.

SJPD has previously said it did not immediately conduct an investigation because the complaints were submitted anonymously. Liccardo, however, questioned that rationale.

“The anonymous nature of the complaints may have obscured the identity of the complaining party, but the specific businesses involved appeared to be readily discoverable, and employees could have been interviewed,” he wrote in a memo released Monday. “Most importantly, there appears to have been no coordination between SJPD and the city manager (about) whether to place Mr. Gerry on leave pending further investigation.”

Mata on Monday deflected specific questions on the decisions made in the case of Gerry, saying that it occurred prior to his administration.

In response to a question about why Dominguez was not placed on leave after the May 2021 accusation, an SJPD spokesman emphasized in an email that the allegation took place in the city of Campbell and that no criminal charges were filed.

Still, Mata said he was “going to look at the process, look at the investigations and see where we can improve on and do better.”

Gerry was arrested in 2020 and convicted in March of felony counts of extorting sex and money from massage business owners and offered them protection from police raids using confidential intelligence from his work with SJPD vice officers. He was also convicted of molesting two people when they were children in the early 2000s, prior to his work with the city.

A 90-page report released last year by San Jose Auditor Joe Rois at the request of the mayor and council revealed a series of failures in the city code enforcement division's oversight procedures, as well as critical communication gaps between city departments.

Philip J. Kearney, a San Francisco-based attorney who is representing two of Gerry's victims, said if police would have conducted an investigation after the first complaint and placed Gerry on desk duty until it was resolved, at least one of his clients would not have been raped.

“It's just flat-out shocking to me that you would let a person with these types of allegations — basically of extortion and sexual assault — back on the streets, by himself, for enforcement operations in an industry that's largely run by immigrant women who are particularly vulnerable and where cash is king,” Kearney said.