For the second time in four months, local lawyer Harry Damkar is
sending a report to the state Attorney General’s Office asking it
to investigate the District Attorney volunteer who was ensnared in
controversy several months ago for allegedly impersonating a
cop.
Hollister – For the second time in four months, local lawyer Harry Damkar is sending a report to the state Attorney General’s Office asking it to investigate the District Attorney volunteer who was ensnared in controversy several months ago for allegedly impersonating a cop.
Former District Attorney Harry Damkar sent the Attorney General’s Office a police report and a letter Monday asking the state to investigate what Damkar believes to be misconduct by volunteer process server William “Andy” Simpson.
Damkar believes the county could be held liable for Simpson’s involvement in two criminal cases as a District Attorney volunteer because he is not a sworn peace officer. Damkar asked the state to look into the same concerns in October, but it ignored the issue, he said. He hopes including a police report filed by one of his clients about Simpson will make them take notice this time around.
“The air needs to be cleared,” Damkar said. “There needs to be a ruling to determine if there’s been any violation of law.”
Simpson declined to comment Monday.
District Attorney John Sarsfield, who paid Simpson more than $10,000 between March and August of last year to serve subpoenas, said he feels comfortable having the volunteer work for him and believes Simpson hasn’t done anything wrong.
Questions first arose about Simpson’s work with the District Attorney’s Office last summer when several top law enforcement officials voiced concerns that Simpson had shown up to traffic stops possibly toting a gun and wearing a badge, which he is not authorized to do because he is not state-certified. When concerns were first voiced in August, Sarsfield said they were moot because Simpson was no longer volunteering with his office.
However, Simpson recently began serving subpoenas for the District Attorney’s office again because Sarsfield said his office generates too many subpoenas for one person to serve. Marshal Robert Scattini is the office’s main process server.
Sarsfield doesn’t believe Simpson was ever a point of controversy for his office, and that Damkar’s allegations stem from a personal grudge the former district attorney harbors against him. He also said it is imprudent for Damkar to throw around allegations of misconduct.
“Mr. Damkar makes his money trying to get criminals out of trouble. He’s also the guy I drove out of office,” Sarsfield said. “They’ve made accusations about my office and nothing has ever come from it. As far as I know, (Simpson) hasn’t done anything wrong at all. The only person saying otherwise is some charged criminal defendant and his mouth piece.”
Damkar became involved because one of his clients voiced the same concerns and took it one step further by filing a report with the sheriff’s department. In the report, Lee said Simpson impersonated a deputy district attorney while investigating a molestation case.
Several months ago, the sheriff’s office took a report from Hollister resident Kevin Lee concerning Simpson’s involvement in investigating a child molestation case Lee was a part of. Lee alleged Simpson had impersonated a deputy district attorney, flashed a badge and was wearing a gun while he served him with a subpoena about a case involving one of Lee’s relatives, who was the alleged victim in the child molestation case. Simpson also sat in on several meetings with Lee and Deputy District Attorney Denny Wei when discussing the case, which upset Lee because Simpson should not be privileged to confidential information concerning the case, Damkar said.
Simpson admitted to sitting in on interviews with Lee and Wei, and to doing investigative work for the District Attorney’s Office, according to a sheriff’s report taken by Detective Sgt. Wes Walker, which was included in the materials Damkar sent to the state.
In an interview with Walker last month, Simpson said he was present during the interviews with Lee because he “was asked to sit in,” according to Walker’s report.
Walker asked Simpson what kind of investigative work he had done, and Simpson replied, “What does that have to do with any of this,” according to the report.
However, Sarsfield said Simpson had never done investigative work for his office, and that he couldn’t comment on anything Simpson had said to Walker because he hadn’t seen the report.
“I don’t know that’s even accurate,” Sarsfield said. “I was under the impression the report wasn’t even finished yet.”
Lee complained to the District Attorney’s Office about Simpson’s involvement, and a short time later was charged by the District Attorney’s office for making annoying phone calls to the father of the suspect charged with molesting Lee’s relative. A jury recently found him not guilty.
And Damkar thinks that it was not a coincidence Lee was charged.
“We had alleged it was discriminatory prosecution,” he said. “I think the case was pushed forward… because Mr. Lee complained about Simpson.”
Deputy District Attorney Candice Hooper, who prosecuted the case, said the jury could not determine that Lee had intended to annoy the suspect’s father, so they declared him not guilty.
But Damkar believes Simpson’s actions in the Lee case, and the fact that Simpson is again serving subpoenas for the district attorney, is enough cause for concern to have the Attorney General’s Office look into it.
Damkar said he also plans to send a copy of his letter to the Board of Supervisors, because he believes the fact that Simpson is volunteering for the District Attorney’s office without a contract raises some fiscal responsibility issues.
Supervisor Reb Monaco, who questioned whether Sarsfield’s use of Simpson was a sound expenditure for the cash-strapped county, voiced some concern about Simpson’s revival on the process server circuit.
“He doesn’t have a contract with the county, and I have some concerns about that aspect of it,” Monaco said. “People in the community have expressed concerns about using this individual, also. It’s not just me. Those concerns are still there.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
