SAN JOSE — A San Jose police officer who was criminally charged and accused of masturbating while on the job earlier this year has been charged with two additional crimes, based on allegations he groped two women in separate instances over the past 14 months.
The two new charges stem from alleged sexual misconduct both on- and off-duty, with one reported victim claiming Matthew Dominguez groped her at a 2021 Memorial Day barbecue in Campbell, and the other victim contending that she was groped when Dominguez arrested her on suspicion of drunk driving last December.
Separately, another San Jose police officer is facing charges that he repurposed a decommissioned police car for his personal use, disabled its tracking device, and charged hundreds of dollars worth of gas to the city’s tab. The charges were first reported by NBC Bay Area.
Dominguez garnered national headlines after he was arrested and charged May 11 with misdemeanor indecent exposure on allegations that while he was responding a domestic-disturbance call in April, multiple members of the family who called police saw him masturbating with his penis visible outside his pants.
San Jose police Chief Anthony Mata made a point of personally escorting Dominguez out of police headquarters — video of which was posted by the department — after internal-affairs investigators determined there was a basis for criminal charges against the four-year officer. Dominguez is on paid administrative leave; his attorney did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.
After news of that arrest broke, a 25-year-old Menlo Park resident contacted this news organization to disclose that she had been groped by Dominguez at a Memorial Day party at the Campbell home of another San Jose police officer. She recounted how a seemingly intoxicated Dominguez made unwanted advances at her even with her boyfriend present, and during the advances touched her breast and thigh.
The woman, who identified herself as Jennifer Rodrigues, reported the incident to San Jose’s Office of the Police Auditor, which alerted the SJPD internal affairs unit, and soon after Campbell police started an investigation. But the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges at the time.
After Rodrigues went public following Dominguez’s arrest, her allegations were reviewed again, and a misdemeanor sexual battery charge was added to the criminal complaint against the officer on May 27.
Also following the indecent-exposure arrest, a woman who was arrested on suspicion of DUI by Dominguez on Dec. 16 came forward to claim that while transporting her, the officer squeezed her breast under the guise of undoing her seat belt.
The woman’s attorney is also challenging Dominguez’s written account that his body camera was not activated because its battery had died, and raised suspicion to prosecutors that the officer purposefully turned it off before assaulting the woman.
On July 7, prosecutors added another misdemeanor sexual battery charge based on the woman’s account.
Dominguez pleaded not guilty to the first two counts during a court hearing on June 22, during which he was briefly the subject of a bench warrant when he was late to court, though the warrant was quickly rescinded. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the third misdemeanor count on August 24.
The initial charge against Dominguez was part of a string of embarrasing officer scandals at the police department that publicly surfaced in May, and Dominguez’s case was specifically cited during the institution of a new policy to sideline city employees credibly accused of serious crimes including sexual assault.
Embezzlement allegation against veteran officer
In a separate case, Detective Ismael Lemus, a 20-year member of SJPD, was charged in April with one misdemeanor count of embezzlement of an amount not exceeding $950 and a misdemeanor count of tampering with a vehicle.
The charges come after a city employee who oversees fleet management for San Jose determined that an unmarked police car scheduled to be retired from police use was not properly accounted for, and alerted the police department. Investigators found that Lemus, a detective in the department’s assaults unit, had been using the vehicle for personal use, and charged close to $1,000 to city-run gas pumps.
Citing the investigation, Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Ceseña said Lemus reportedly returned the vehicle with its GPS system disabled and without license plates. Lemus is on paid administrative leave; his attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday.
Source: www.mercurynews.com