A 44-year-old San Jose police officer served rum and whiskey to a group of teen boys, slipped them gift cards and engaged in sexual acts with two of them in his Gilroy home
– all the while, he knew they were underage Gilroy High School students, the teens testified to a secret criminal grand jury last month. Full story
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Today’s breaking news:
A 44-year-old San Jose police officer served rum and whiskey to a group of teen boys, slipped them gift cards and engaged in sexual acts with two of them in his Gilroy home – all the while, he knew they were underage Gilroy High School students, the teens testified to a secret criminal grand jury last month.
Testimonies indicated Patrick D’Arrigo, a patrol veteran and former campus officer at a San Jose high school, knew the boys he met through a 16-year-old Craigslist acquaintance were minors, but invited them into his home for dinner, drinks and movies multiple times between December 2008 and March 2009. On two separate occasions, D’Arrigo participated in oral sex with two of the boys, including a 15-year-old sophomore and a 17-year-old senior with whom he also began a brief, sexual relationship after the boy turned 18, according to testimonies.
The teens testified they had conversations with D’Arrigo about their ages, including where they went to school and what grades they were in.
“He knew,” testified one of the alleged victims, referred to only as “Marc Doe,” during a secret Aug. 30 grand jury hearing that lasted more than two hours and cemented D’Arrigo’s indictment, arrest and raid on his home by police the following day. When asked if D’Arrigo also knew the boys’ ages, Marc Doe testified, “Yeah. Due to his profession, you know, he should know.”
The booze and sex episodes descended from a friendship sparked on an ad in the fall of 2008, when D’Arrigo responded to a posting in the male-seeking-male category authored by a 16-year-old Gilroy boy, according to the boy’s testimony.
D’Arrigo and the teen began emailing and texting one another, the boy testified. D’Arrigo even bought the teen a $300 iPod for Christmas in 2008, prosecutors said, around the same time the boy introduced D’Arrigo to the other teens, including the alleged victims.
The 16-year-old who created the Craigslist ad is named in the grand jury transcripts, but because of his age at the time of incidents the Dispatch is not naming him at this time.
The teen, then a GHS junior, said the Craigslist page catered to men seeking sexual relationships with other men and to men looking “for whatever.” The teen, now 19, said he was searching for men in the Gilroy area but didn’t write anything sexually explicit in the ad. The boy testified he wrote in the ad that he was 18. D’Arrigo, who was 41 at the time, lied about his age as well, telling the boy he was 36 years old, according to the testimony.
Once the additional teens came into the picture, D’Arrigo made them dinner and, on multiple occasions, served them Captain Morgan rum and Jack Daniel’s whiskey, according to the boys’ testimonies.
“And we were just chatting and hanging out,” Marc Doe testified. He said D’Arrigo told him he was a police officer the same night they met.
At some point in the evening, D’Arrigo invited Marc Doe, then 17, into the officer’s bedroom for about 15 or 20 minutes, where the teen said they performed oral sex on one another.
The teen who posted the Craigslist ad told the grand jury he asked D’Arrigo what he and Marc Doe did while in the bedroom.
“He said they were doing oral,” the teen testified.
If convicted, D’Arrigo faces a maximum sentence of three years, eight months in prison, said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott, who is prosecuting the case.
D’Arrigo has been on paid administrative leave since he was arrested Aug. 31 at the San Jose Police Department while Gilroy police searched his home, finding computers, cell phones and flash drives prosecutors say corroborate the boys’ testimonies.
While on leave, D’Arrigo continues to receive paychecks toward his $97,198 base salary, according to Sarah Nunes, employment division manager for the City of San Jose’s human resources department.
Brian Madden, D’Arrigo’s privately retained attorney, declined to comment on the case. D’Arrigo is expected to appear in court in San Jose Oct. 20 for trial setting.
After Christmas 2008, D’Arrigo and Marc Doe met up again, and D’Arrigo gave the boy a gift card to a local mall. In January 2009 – following the teen’s 18th birthday – the two met several more times and had sex, Marc Doe testified.
Marc Doe said he and D’Arrigo met “between four and 10 times” in early 2009 and they became “good friends,” though sexual activity between the two ended. Eventually, they stopped talking and meeting altogether, Marc Doe testified.
The allegations were first reported to the SJPD in March 2009, but the investigation stalled due to “limited cooperation from the boys due to the embarrassment,” Deputy District Attorney Scott said.
Marc Doe denied having relations with the officer during an interview with SJPD Det. Mike King, saying he didn’t want D’Arrigo to get in trouble.
“He’s a good guy. But he made stupid choices,” Marc Doe testified. “Of course, where we are at now is a lot more serious. So I have no choice but to tell the truth.”
The teen also testified he denied the allegations when contacted by Gilroy Police Department Det. John Ballard. Ballard testified that in September 2009, he called D’Arrigo, adding the officer declined to visit GPD for an interview, saying he was out of town preparing for back surgery.
“From what I remember, I told him that there was an allegation that one of the victims had performed oral sex on him and he had provided alcohol to minors,” Ballard testified.
D’Arrigo said he’d rather consult an attorney before he answered any more questions, Ballard testified.
Ballard described D’Arrigo as “polite” while denying the allegations, and said it was the only time he spoke with him during the investigation.
D’Arrigo’s other alleged victim, then-15-year-old Martin Doe, testified he was “really drunk” when he and D’Arrigo engaged in a brief sexual encounter in January 2009. He told the grand jury he had sneaked out of his house to drink alcohol with the teen who posted the Craigslist ad before the two of them visited D’Arrigo, who provided them with more liquor.
According to testimonies from Martin Doe and the boy who posted the Craigslist ad, Martin Doe performed oral sex on D’Arrigo on the officer’s living room couch, while the other teen watched silently through a crack in a bedroom door. The encounter was very brief, they said.
“I just remember doing it. And like I just snapped out of it,” Martin Doe said. “I was like, ‘What am I doing here?'”
When asked why he agreed to engage in the activity with D’Arrigo, the teen replied, “I just did it. I thought that’s what – I felt like he kind of wanted it. … I don’t know. I just did it.”
Martin Doe said he met D’Arrigo two times before that night – including one instance where D’Arrigo gave him a Hollister clothing store gift card – but never saw him again following the only sexual encounter.
D’Arrigo potentially could be found not guilty of oral copulation charges if a “mistake-of-age” defense holds up during a trial, which means any reasonable person could believe the alleged victim was at least 18 years old, Scott said.
Martin Doe said he and D’Arrigo never discussed how old he was, though Scott said any defense stating D’Arrigo didn’t know the teen was under 18 “defies any common sense.”
“He is 15 years old. There’s no questions about it. It doesn’t matter how old the defendant thinks he is,” Scott told the grand jury, according to the transcripts.
Scott continued, “He has to actually believe that Martin Doe was 18 years old. That defies logic. You saw him up there testifying. You got to look at him and see how young he was.”
While mistake of age is a conceivable defense for D’Arrigo’s two oral copulation charges, it cannot be an excuse for D’Arrigo’s other charge: lewd or lascivious acts with a child age 14 or 15, Scott said.
In 2008, a criminal grand jury declined to indict D’Arrigo and SJPD Sgt. Will Manion following accusations they attempted to cover up a DUI incident that involved Sandra Woodall, an investigator with the District Attorney’s office.
D’Arrigo and Manion were fired in January 2010 for their roles in the investigation, but were reinstated following lengthy arbitration last December, SJPD spokesman Jose Garcia said.
