SJPD Officer charged for masturbating during service call in front of mother and daughter
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KION-TV) UPDATE May 12, 2022, at 7:16 p.m.-- A San Jose police officer has been charged for allegedly masturbating inside a home during a service call.
Officer Matthew Dominguez, 32, faces a misdemeanor indecent exposure charge. Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said if convicted, he could face a year in jail and be placed on the sexual offender list for 10 years.
"The charged behavior is beyond disturbing," said Rosen in a prepared statement. "Law enforcement officers respond to our homes to help crime victims, not terrorize, traumatize, and create new victims."
Dominguez is a four-year veteran of the San Jose Department and is currently on administrative leave. On Thursday, San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata walked Dominguez out of the department's internal affairs office shortly after the DA's office filed the charge.
Chief Mata released a statement that said, "Last week, I said that when an officer violated the public's trust or engages in criminal conduct, I would personally walk that officer out the door. Today I did it."
Mata also said the information the department can provide on the ongoing investigation is limited, but proposed changes to the officer disciplinary process that would allow him to speak publicly on cases where he believes termination is the only option, according to our CBS affiliate.
"The law and Officer rights must be taken into consideration. There are also limitations on how fast I can officially fire an Officer in a case like this," said Mata. "Hence, why I stood before our City on Tuesday to share my expectations. l reiterate - when an Officer violates the public's trust, they will be held accountable. When an officer is convicted of criminal conduct, I will personally walk them out the door."
The incident in question happened on April 21. The DA's office said Dominguez and two other officers responded to a call that a mentally ill family member was being violent.
Dominguez sent the other officers to find the person and touched himself in front of two female family members. Afterward, Dominguez exposed himself to the mother, and the victims then reported his behavior to two other male relatives nearby - one of whom witnessed part of the incident, according to our CBS affiliate.
Police sources told our affiliate that when Dominguez was later questioned, "he had no recollection of the incident."
"Obviously this is the latest in what has become a drumbeat of serious transgressions by young officers in the San Jose Police Department," San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said.
The president of the San Jose Police officers Association released the following statement:
"I am absolutely disgusted by this repugnant allegation that damages the reputation of our profession and department, where 99% of SJPD police officers serve honorably every single day. If this is true, the individual must be held accountable and he should never be allowed to be a police officer ever again."
San Jose Police
Also on Thursday, San Jose police and the mayor said another police officer was placed on leave months ago after allegedly giving a woman a meth pipe in exchange for information.
ORIGINAL STORY
A San Jose Police Officer is being accused of masturbating during a service call at a San Jose home, according to our sister Telemundo station.
According to our sister station, the officer that responded to a home with a mother and daughter inside is accused of masturbating at the kitchen table.
“If these allegations are proven to be true, then this person has no place in law enforcement,” said Sean Pritchard, president of the SJPD Police Officers Association. “Having these different incidents has really led us to a place where we want to take a much harder look at our hiring process, our backgrounding process, and really see if there’s something that’s being missed.”
These new allegations from Thursday are the latest in a line of issues with the department.
The last one is the revelation that rookie officer De'jon Packer, 24, died of a fentanyl overdose in March after a night out with other officers.
RELATED STORY: San Jose Police officer passes because of fentanyl overdose
Another officer was also placed on administrative leave for allegedly being drunk when he went to the scene of a kidnapped baby in late April, according to Police Chief Anthony Mata.
An FBI agent reported the officer, and people with knowledge of the case said the officer had a blood alcohol level of 0.139, which is almost twice the legal limit, according to our sister Telemundo station.
“This has been a scandalous week for the San Jose Police Department,” said legal analyst Steven Clark.
Clark added that these repeated instances of misconduct have a ripple effect on the community and tarnish trust with law enforcement among the general public.
“Even though this only involves a small number of officers, there’s a spillover effect that people will start to wonder what’s going on at the San Jose Police Department when you think of this number of incidents in such a short period of time,” said Clark.
The legal analyst said the District Attorney's Office would likely lead these cases of officer misconduct.
“We want to ensure that the public does trust us and really understands again that this is not who we are,” said Pritchard.
