The results of a weeks-long investigation into allegations that
Sobrato Head Football Coach and Hollister resident Jeff Patterson
received oral sex from a student during school hours will be
forwarded to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office
today, according to police.
Morgan Hill – The results of a weeks-long investigation into allegations that Sobrato Head Football Coach and Hollister resident Jeff Patterson received oral sex from a student during school hours will be forwarded to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office today, according to police.
“The case will be presented to the filing district attorney,” Morgan Hill Police Cmdr. Terrie Booten said Monday.
Booten would not comment on the specifics of the investigation or possible charges.
Phone calls to Patterson’s home and his attorney, Larry Biegel, were not returned Monday.
Victoria Brown of the District Attorney’s sexual assault team will review the report presented by MHPD detectives. She would not say if a three-week investigation into such allegations was unusual. She did not know when the district attorney would make a decision on filing charges.
“To answer that would be a guess,” she said. “It truly depends on the case.”
Brown had not been presented with any information about the alleged incident and she could not comment on it specifically. However, she cited the California Penal Code when asked about possible charges. If the victim of oral copulation is 16 or 17 the charge could be either a felony or a misdemeanor, depending on the facts of the case, she said.
Patterson has not been arrested or charged with a crime. He did not attend his varsity team’s last football game or the end of the year banquet, and is on leave from his job as a math teacher at Sobrato.
The investigation began after the 17-year-old told her father, who called police on Nov. 8, that Patterson “urged” her to forge a note to get out of her sixth period class on Nov. 4 and then picked her up in his car. She said they drove to a side street where they parked and had oral sex.
According to the entry in the police dispatch log, when the girl’s father called police he told them he “believes the acts may be consensual, but the daughter did see a counselor today because she is very emotional.”
The police investigation into the incident is over, unless Brown determines more work is needed, Booten said.
“She and the detectives will discuss the case, and she may have additional questions,” Booten said. “From that point, additional work may need to be done, or the filing DA may be satisfied with what has been presented.”
A decision could come as soon as today, Booten said.
“If there are charges filed, against either party, then a warrant would be issued and bail set, based on the charges,” she said. “We would attempt to contact those involved at that time.”
Police were waiting for test results of samples sent to the county crime lab. Though police would not disclose the nature of the samples, MHPD Cmdr. Joe Sampson did say earlier that Patterson’s car was impounded for a day, and evidence was collected from it.
