Harassment case against H.S. teacher is dropped

The Santa Clara County district attorney’s office cited “insufficient evidence” in its decision to forgo charges against a former South Bay councilman accused of sexual harassment by multiple women and girls.

Dominic Caserta, 43, resigned from his seat on the Santa Clara City Council and suspended his campaign for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors in May after allegations of inappropriate behavior spanning over a decade came to light.

Terry Harman, an assistant district attorney, said the allegations were troubling but a lack of evidence precluded the office from moving forward with criminal charges.

“After a thorough review and legal analysis of Dominic Caserta’s behavior toward a number of girls and women in recent years, our office has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to file criminal charges,” Harman said in a statement released Thursday. “However, crime or not, it is unacceptable to treat women with anything less than respect and dignity.”

Allegations against Caserta, a civics teacher at Santa Clara High School, were first reported by San Jose Inside, after his personnel file was sent out, apparently inadvertently, to the staff

of the Santa Clara Unified School District.

In one instance, the personnel file noted that Caserta allegedly ran his hands through a female student’s hair and made sexually suggestive comments about her clothing, including telling her that he was sexually aroused.

Lydia Jungkind, a 19-year-old former student and campaign worker of Caserta’s, claimed that the former councilman sexually harassed her. She was one of nearly a dozen women to file reports with Santa Clara police.

Jungkind was a student in a civics class Caserta taught at Foothill College in the fall of 2017 and she later worked on his campaign for Santa Clara County supervisor. He is on paid leave from Santa Clara High.

Caserta has faced allegations of misconduct dating to 2002, which include unwanted hugging, inappropriate comments and flirting. Police were called to Santa Clara High twice that year in response to allegations that Caserta had sexually harassed students.

He served on the Santa Clara City Council for 12 years and has denied all allegations.

The district attorney’s office declined to answer any questions about the case.