Multiple women filed a lawsuit in California against a Democratic politician and former mayor, alleging he sexually assaulted them, after California’s Attorney General declined to prosecute, multiple outlets reported.
Seven of the women vowed to pursue their case against Dominic Foppoli, former Mayor of East Windsor in California’s North Bay, during a press conference with their attorneys outside the Sonoma County Civil and Family Law Courthouse, ABC 7 Bay Area reported Sunday. There were eight other alleged female victims, according to NBC Bay Area.
“We will not be silenced. We are not gonna stop the fight,” Attorney Traci Carrillo told reporters at the press conference, according to footage by ABC 7 Bay Area.
The women also reportedly said California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta’s decision last month not to file criminal charges against Foppoli left them disappointed. Bonta cited a lack of evidence but said the investigation remained open in a statement to ABC 7 Bay Area.
“We are shocked that even with the large number of women from around the globe who’ve come forward, this is still not considered enough for a criminal prosecution,” an alleged victim told the press the outlet’s footage showed.
“Unfortunately, the criminal justice system failed these women,” Attorney Spencer Kuvin told reporters, the footage showed.
Former reality TV personality Farrah Abraham is one of the alleged victims. “This has been so hard,” she told reporters while fighting tears, according to ABC 7 Bay Area’s footage. She alleged Foppoli drugged and sexually assaulted her in Florida in 2021, according to the outlet.
“Next time you are offered wine, or anything to drink, think about the sexual predator that may be behind the bottle. Protect yourself,” Abraham added. (RELATED: ‘Astonishing Abuse Of Power’: New Court Filing Details Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Eric Adams)
The police had raided Foppoli’s home in Nov. 2021 as part of investigations into the numerous sexual assault allegations, according to ABC 7 Bay Area.
Foppoli expressed “a blend of relief and, I’m gonna be honest, some anger” after Bonta suspended the investigation in an interview with the outlet. When asked if he assaulted any of the women, Foppoli answered, “Absolutely not.” He said the encounters with them were consensual, according to the outlet.
“There’s some of them that were involved that, I do have a genuine history from, from 20-plus years ago, and I realize now I was not a perfect partner,” he told the outlet.
Sexual assault allegations have trailed Foppoli since the start of his political career in 2003, while he was a College Republican and running for a seat in the State Assembly, according to a San Francisco (SF) Chronicle investigative report. The then-Windsor Town Manager Ken MacNab attached the report to a letter to the then-Sonoma District Attorney Jill Ravitch requesting Grand Jury proceedings against Foppoli.
Foppoli switched to the Democratic Party in 2016, according to the investigative report.
Initially saying he would “step back from an active role as Mayor” in Apr. 2021, Foppoli resigned a month later, less than three hours after becoming aware of Abraham’s allegation against him, the SF Chronicle reported.
Foppoli, a Catholic of Italian heritage whose brewery turned Windsor in California’s wine country into a tourist attraction, hails from a winemaking family, according to the SF Chronicle’s investigative report.
Foppoli resides in Italy and told ABC 7 Bay Area he is engaged to be married this summer. He expressed reportedly interest in returning to politics in Sonoma County in 2025.