Former juvenile counselor charged with sexually assaulting his client
SAN JOSE >> A former court-appointed juvenile counselor in Santa Clara County is in jail facing charges that he sexually assaulted one of his clients in the mid-2000s, a period in which he left his profession under a cloud for illicit acts with another underage girl, according to authorities.
Giorgio Raul Garcia, 53, was arrested March 25 in Red Bluff, north of Chico, and taken to Santa Clara County, where he is being held in the Elmwood men’s jail in Milpitas on $350,000 bail.
The arrest capped an investigation that began in February when a woman contacted San Jose police to report that Garcia sexually assaulted her between 2003 and 2004 when he was assigned as her counselor by the juvenile court.
The claim adds new context to the circumstances in which Garcia stopped working with the county in 2006, after he was accused of giving alcohol to another underage girl also under his counseling supervision, according to sources familiar with the investigation. Court records related to that case appear to have been expunged, but that coincided with the court system severing ties with him.
According to court records, the new charges against Garcia were filed March 3, more than three weeks before his arrest in Red Bluff, where he currently lives. He was arraigned March 26, and is scheduled to return to court May 19.
Garcia’s listed attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
According to police, Garcia worked for several service providers contracted with the court, including the defunct Rubicon Children’s Center in Fremont, JT Residential Facilities in San Jose, and the county Department of Alcohol and Drug Services. Police also listed an entity called Taylor Juvenile Facilities, for which no site or organizational information could be readily found Monday.
It was not immediately clear how long Garcia had worked with underage clients in the county. An initial news release from police stated that he had done
so since 1980, but after this news organization pointed out that would have meant Garcia started working when he was about 12 years old, they said they could only confirm his work with the county going back to 1999.
Because of his past access to Juvenile Hall and other locations with children, San Jose police sexual-assault detectives suspect there could be more people who had similar experiences with Garcia. Anyone with information for the investigation can contact Detective Anthony Barajas at 408-277-4102 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.