Former cop appears in court on rape charges
Winchester, 31, accused of sexually assaulting women while on duty
REDWOOD CITY — A former San Mateo police officer charged with sexually assaulting women while on duty made his first court appearance Monday but did not enter a plea.
Noah Winchester, 31, faces 22 felony charges stemming from allegations that he assaulted five victims, including a 17-yearold girl, over a two-year period while policing San Mateo and the Los Rios Community College District in the Sacramento area. The charges include sexual battery, rape and kidnapping.
The ex-cop was dressed in brown jail clothes Monday during a brief appearance in San Mateo County Superior Court. His attorney at the moment, Michael Rains, asked for the arraignment to be put off until next Tuesday.
“The charges are very serious,” Rains told reporters outside court.
Rains said he’s not sure yet if his firm will represent Winchester, who may be eligible to have his police union provide his defense.
Authorities arrested Winchester at gunpoint on Thursday near his home in Stockton while he was driving his 13-year-old son to athletic practice, Rains said. He was booked into San Joaquin County Jail then transferred to Santa Clara County jail, with bail set at $3.1 million.
The alleged crimes took place between July 2013 and October 2015. They did not come to light until Oct. 20, when a woman claimed she had been sexually assaulted by a San Mateo police officer at Coyote Point Recreation Area.
The allegations spurred an inquiry by San Mateo police and a criminal investigation by the District Attorney’s Office, which uncovered more accusations regarding Winchester’s time with the Los Rios district, where he worked from 2009 to 2015.
In addition to the alleged assault at Coyote Point, Winchester is accused of attempting to rape a woman in a San Mateo motel room; sexually battering a woman at Hillsdale Shopping Center in San Mateo; sexually battering a 17-year-old girl in a Los Rios community college parking lot; and raping a woman in a Los Rios campus building.
If convicted of any of the rape or kidnapping charges, Winchester faces the possibility of life in prison, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
San Mateo police hired Winchester in early 2015. After finishing his probationary period, he spent about four months on patrol without supervision. He was placed on leave after the Oct. 20 allegation surfaced, and he resigned in February.
In 2013, one of the alleged victims in the Sacramento region reported her accusations to police, who forwarded the complaint to the college district, according to Wagstaffe. But the allegations were not corroborated at the time, the complaint didn’t go anywhere, and the accusations were not available to San Mateo police when they conducted a background check, he said.
A spokesman for the district said it could not comment on whether the district investigated that incident at the time, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters.
Rains told reporters the DA’s investigation was comprehensive, and it’s unlikely any other alleged victims will surface.
“They have to my knowledge left no stone unturned,” he said.