Two San Benito Health Care District Board members this week said
they believe Ernest Rivas should resign from the elected seat he
holds in light of his agreement to a plea deal that would reduce a
molestation charge alleging he kissed a 16-year-old girl. Rivas,
58, is scheduled to appear at the San Benito County Courthouse at 4
p.m. Feb. 4 for a plea hearing to finalize the agreement with
prosecutors.
Two San Benito Health Care District Board members this week said they believe Ernest Rivas should resign from the elected seat he holds in light of his agreement to a plea deal that would reduce a molestation charge alleging he kissed a 16-year-old girl.
Rivas, 58, is scheduled to appear at the San Benito County Courthouse at 4 p.m. Feb. 4 for a plea hearing to finalize the agreement with prosecutors.
Elected to his first term on the health care district board in November 2008, he is suspected of kissing the girl on or about July 16 and was arrested by the Hollister Police Department in August, according to records. Rivas was released after paying his $5,000 bail and he pleaded not guilty to the charge. He could not be reached before press time but has declined to comment to the Free Lance about the allegation.
When questioned Tuesday about whether Rivas should step down, Hospital board President Gordon Machado and Treasurer Mary McCullough told the Free Lance they believe he should resign. Two other members besides Rivas, Sharon Scagliotti and Parveen Sharma, did not return phone calls before press time.
Machado said he has been “confronted” in the community at various points about trying to have him removed since Rivas’ defense and prosecutors came to agreement on the plea deal last month.
“Something of this nature is not appropriate for a board member or an elected official,” said Machado, who has served on the hospital board since 1998. “Fifty-eight and 16, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Machado went on later: “All elected officials carry the trust of the people. When that trust is violated, they should step down.”
McCullough, who has served on the hospital board for 27 years, noted how board members planned to discuss the matter in closed session at their Thursday meeting.
“I would like him to resign, too,” McCullough said after being told that Machado declared Rivas should step down.
McCullough said she is “certainly not happy with the situation.”
“He has been less than a good public servant,” she said regarding Rivas, whose attendance at meetings has been sporadic since voters elected him, along with two others, 14 months ago.
Neither Machado nor McCullough had spoken to Rivas about the allegations, they confirmed.
Machado also noted, though, how election laws largely protect such officials from removal beyond a recall. A felony would bar him from holding office, but a misdemeanor conviction would not.
As of now, Rivas is accused of a misdemeanor count of annoying and molesting a child and, if convicted, would face a possible sentence of a year in county jail and a fine of up to $5,000, according to the penal code. He also would have to register as a sex offender.
His attorney Elvira Zaragoza Robinson previously confirmed Rivas has agreed to some sort of battery charge with the district attorney’s office, but she has declined to elaborate on details of the lesser conviction in the matter.
