San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
What to know in Foppoli investigation
Here are some key questions and answers about The Chronicle’s investigation of winemaker and Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli, who has been accused of sexual assault by five women in connection with encounters between 2002 and 2019. Foppoli, 38, has denied the allegations.
Who is Dominic Foppoli?
Dominic Foppoli is the mayor of Windsor, a small town in the heart of Wine Country, and the coowner of Christopher Creek Winery outside Healdsburg. He was also recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District in Sonoma County. Foppoli was first appointed mayor by the Windsor Town Council in 2018.
He graduated from high school in Santa Rosa, attended Dominican University of California in San Rafael and, at 22, was elected vice chairman of the Sonoma County Republican Party’s executive committee. In 2014, at the age of 32, he was elected the youngest council member in the town’s history. In 2016, he became the town’s vice mayor. In recent years, he has started a series of wine and beer ventures.
What are the allegations?
Five women are accusing Foppoli of sexual assault, describing incidents they say happened between 2002 and 2019. Four of the women, who do not know each other, told The Chronicle that Foppoli isolated and assaulted them after nights of drinking. The fifth said he abused her during a threeyear relationship. Reporters interviewed family members, witnesses and friends, and reviewed social media messages, journal entries and other documents in an effort to corroborate the women’s accounts. The Chronicle also obtained a 2017 email containing an additional allegation of sexual misconduct against Foppoli, who the complainant said tried to remove a woman’s bathing suit without her consent in 2013.
What is Foppoli’s response to the allegations?
Foppoli declined The Chronicle’s requests for an interview, but his attorney, Bethany Kristovich, said he “categorically denies having engaged in any of the abuses described.” (A fifth woman, the one who reported abuse during a longterm relationship, spoke to The Chronicle after this statement was released; Foppoli did not immediately comment on her account.) In the emailed statement, the attorney went on to say:
“Sexual assault and sexual misconduct are very serious issues, and Mr. Foppoli takes these allegations very seriously. He has a long history of supporting women in his business, personal, and political lives, and the accusation that he has engaged in any of these misdeeds is deeply troubling. Mr. Foppoli prides himself on working to improve life for all of his constituents, and he will continue to maintain the fundamental value of treating everyone with respect.”
What is the response from local officials and the community?
Windsor officials, in a statement released on the town’s Facebook page, have called the allegations “shocking and horrible” and said, “The conduct described in the article published by the San Francisco Chronicle is not acceptable nor does it reflect the values or standards we hold ourselves to as a community.”
Within a day of the publication of The Chronicle’s investigation Thursday morning, more than a dozen state and local lawmakers demanded that Foppoli resign, including every colleague on the town’s elected council and the North Bay’s two congressional representatives.
The eight mayors from the other cities and towns in Sonoma County released a joint statement saying Foppoli should step down. “As your local elected leaders,” they wrote, “we are committed to ending sexual violence in Sonoma County and believe the actions by a fellow Mayor should not be tolerated.”
The Russian River Winegrowers Association announced Friday afternoon that it had begun the process to terminate Foppoli’s winery Christopher Creek from its membership. Additionally, Joe Foppoli, Dominic’s brother and a coowner of Christopher Creek, was on the group’s board of directors; he was asked to resign and accepted. “As an organization we feel that we need to respond forcefully to these allegations,” said Clark Lystra, president of the associations’ board of directors. “The allegations were extensively corroborated, and they’re very disturbing.”
Why are these allegations coming out now?
None of the women has filed a lawsuit, nor did they go to the police in the past, explaining that they felt shame at the time and wanted to move forward from the episodes. The women told The Chronicle that Foppoli’s growing political aspirations, and the increasing possibility that he would hold power beyond Windsor, made them willing to publicly share their allegations for the first time. What will happen to Foppoli? Can he face legal trouble?
The Sonoma County Sheriff ’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into the allegations against Foppoli detailed in the Chronicle investigation.
“These allegations are troubling, shocking and, if verified through our investigation, they constitute criminal actions, and we will prosecute them to the fullest extent,” Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said. “As a 28year cop this affects me not only as a member of the community, but as the father of a 21yearold daughter. This really hits home.”
It was not immediately clear whether Foppoli could face criminal charges; as of this week, none of the women who spoke to The Chronicle had filed police reports, and in some cases the legal statute of limitations for prosecution may have passed.
Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said she has assigned the chief deputy district attorney to review and analyze the allegations made against Foppoli.
But even if county prosecutors speak to the women and find evidence of wrongdoing, they may have limited ability to file charges. California, where three of the alleged assaults occurred, has an intricate and evolving set of laws governing the time limit for bringing charges in sexual assault cases.