Former UFC champion Cain Velasquez is suing the people he is currently charged with trying to kill, claiming that their negligence in running a San Martin home daycare led to Velasquez’s child being sexually abused by the owner’s son, according to court records.
The lawsuit on behalf of Velasquez’s 4-year-old son was quietly filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on April 8, and was accompanied by no formal announcement or any of the other public fanfare that has followed the mixed-martial arts star since he was jailed on attempted murder charges earlier this year.
Court records show that the lawsuit was served June 1 to Paul Bender, the man who authorities say Velasquez shot and wounded on Feb. 28 following a harried car chase from Morgan Hill to San Jose.
Bender is a defendant in the lawsuit, in addition to his wife Patricia Goularte and her son Harry Goularte Jr., who is charged with molesting Velasquez’s son. All three are the reported victims in three attempted murder charges filed against Velasquez.
Patricia Goularte’s daycare and Harry Goularte’s concrete business are also listed defendants in the lawsuit, which asserts that the daycare “failed to properly and adequately supervise, train, oversee, recognize, monitor, report, and investigate (Harry Goularte) to prevent the unlawful acts of sexual abuse and sexual harassment against the children of the daycare.”
Besides three allegations of negligence, the lawsuit accuses Harry Goularte Jr. of sexual battery and sexual misconduct, and seeks unspecified general and economic damages.
Warren Paboojian, the Fresno-based attorney and lead author of the lawsuit, was not available for comment Wednesday.
Goularte was charged in February with one felony count of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 14, specifically a 4-year-old. According to Santa Clara County sheriff’s investigators and prosecutors, the reported victim — who has since been widely identified as Velasquez’s son — told his parents in February about being molested by Goularte at the San Martin daycare.
Goularte was arraigned Feb. 25, and a judge granted him supervised release, over objections from the district attorney’s office. Three days later, authorities say Bender and Patricia Goularte drove from San Martin to Morgan Hill to pick up Goularte and take him to San Jose to get outfitted for an ankle monitor. Velasquez allegedly followed the parents in his pickup truck and that once they met Goularte Jr., he drove up to their vehicle and fired a handgun at him, then followed them as they drove away.
The pursuit ended near Monterey Highway and Bailey Road on the southern edges of San Jose, where Velasquez reportedly fired several shots at the truck, wounding Bender. Velasquez was arrested a short distance away by San Jose police.
Since Velasquez’s arrest, his high-profile attorney Mark Geragos has juxtaposed the release of Goularte against his client being held in jail, having twice been denied bail and supervised release by the Superior Court. Geragos on several occasions has argued that Velasquez was making up for a criminal-justice system that failed to protect his child and community.
Patrick Steinfeld, an attorney generally representing Bender and his wife, said he expects a judge to halt advancement of the lawsuit until Velasquez’s criminal case is complete, given that both could potentially testify in both matters. He dismissed the merits of the claims, calling them a ploy to juice the criminal case against Goularte Jr. after investigators and Geragos raised the notion of additional victims.
“It’s just a desperate attempt to find other children who have been allegedly molested at this daycare center, and from what I understand, not one single person has come forth with any similar allegations,” Steinfeld said. “They filed a complaint against everyone in the house, the concrete business … Paul Bender had no involvement with Patty’s daycare. They’re just naming everyone.”
Bender, his wife and Harry Goularte Jr. have stayed out of the public eye since the Velasquez shooting, with Goularte Jr. appearing at court hearings remotely. Their attorneys contend that they have largely gone into hiding and dealt with ongoing public harassment by Velasquez’s supporters, who have shown up en masse at court hearings, often with signs depicting Goularte Jr. as a child predator.
At one point during the initial public uproar over Velasquez’s arrest, Steinfeld said someone threw a Molotov cocktail — an improvised explosive — at his clients’ home, and that they have routinely seen strange people parked across from the home watching them, which he considers acts of intimidation.
Velasquez is next scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 5 then Aug. 19, when the court could possibly set a date for a preliminary examination, the hearing in which a judge would determine whether evidence warrants the case proceeding to trial.
Source: www.mercurynews.com