WINDSOR, Calif. (KNX) — While the criminal investigation into former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli is ongoing, seven women are now suing him for sexual assault.
In a civil suit filed with the Sonoma County Superior Court on Monday, seven women are accusing Foppoli of sexual assualt and casting blame on his winery and an international service group for their role in his wrongdoing, according to a copy of the complaint shared with KCBS Radio on Tuesday.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported about the suit’s existence on Tuesday.
While Foppoli’s alleged actions have become well-known after last year’s Chronicle investigation uncovered several women's assault allegations, the complaint specifically also calls out Christopher Creek Winery and Active 20-30 for benefiting "from Foppoli 'luring' women to events” then declining “to investigate reports of sexual assault."
The women suing Foppoli, Christopher Creek Winery and Active 20-30, who were not named in the complaint, are seeking unspecified damages.
"Our firm is proud to represent these strong and amazing survivors as we move forward and seek justice on their behalf," Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller and Moskowitz, the firm representing the women, said in an emailed statement to KCBS Radio on KCBS Radio.
Fopoli's predatory actions "have remained unchecked far too long, and the currently identified Defendants, Christopher Creek Winery and Active 20-30, enabled the behavior, failed to investigate and allowed a vehicle for the predatory behavior to continue," the firm added.
The accusations of sexual assault came out against Foppoli about a year ago and multiple agencies have investigated him since then, as previously reported by KCBS Radio.
Foppoli resigned as mayor of the wine country town in May 2021 after being accused of multiple counts of sexual assault going back as far as 2002. The California Attorney General's Office most recently started reviewing a Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office investigation into Foppoli,
but Monday's civil suit is the first to be filed.
The complaint lays out a dozen different allegations, not just sexual assault. Foppoli is also accused of gender and domestic violence, defamation, and negligence, according to the paper.
Among compensation and damages, the women in the complaint asked the court to ensure that “Foppoli and his agents not to release any information, images, photographs, videos, and/or any recordings of Plaintiffs to anyone, and to stay 100 yards away from Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs’ homes and worksites.”
"They were each scared that if they complained about Defendant Foppoli, he would ruin their careers, their businesses, their families and their reputations," the complaint said. "Ultimately after survivors started to come forward, he and his agents did everything in their power to try to do just that. ... In some cases, Defendant and his agents were successful."
Foppoli was unavailable for comment. He has denied all previous charges.
You can read the full complaint below.
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