Barring anymore surprise sentencing delays – there have been two already in the last three months – the fate of a former San Jose police officer from Gilroy charged with illegal sexual contact with two teen boys will be determined Wednesday.
Defendant Patrick D’Arrigo, 44, is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 110 of the South County Courthouse, located at 301 Diana Ave. in Morgan Hill.
His previous sentencing date took a detour May 7.
Unsatisfied with the lack of victim impact statements – which the Department of Probation failed to obtain following unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with the two teen boy victims – Judge Kenneth Shapero said he wanted to hear from the victims prior to determining D’Arrigo’s fate. The harshest punishment D’Arrigo faces is three years, eight months in state prison.
“No statement was obtained,” observed Shapero, back in May. “I think it’s important that further efforts be made to get statements from the victims.”
Shapero’s swift decision to bump D’Arrigo’s sentencing more than a month down the road came as a surprise to Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott, who is prosecuting the sex scandal case that erupted in August 2011.
“We thought we were going to sentence him today,” said Scott in May. “But it’s a reasonable request for the judge to make.”
A victim impact statement, Scott explained, allows the judge to consider a crime’s impact on the victim before determining the sentencing of a defendant.
When asked how much weight the statement carries on a sentence, or if it can sway a judge’s final decision, Scott replied “this is such an unusual case that there’s no telling.”
D’Arrigo, former patrol officer for the San Jose Police Department and former campus officer at a San Jose high school, pleaded “no contest” March 15 to two counts of unlawful sexual contact with minors, which allegedly occurred between December 2008 to March 2009.
Count one is a felony violation of lewd or lascivious acts on a child age 14 or 15. It requires that D’Arrigo fulfill a lifetime registration as a sex offender.
Count three is a felony violation for oral copulation of a minor; an alleged victim who was referred to as “Marc Doe” in court.
A plea of “no contest” means the judge can sentence up to the maximum prison time, which is three years and eight months of state prison, according to Scott.
The Dispatch has contacted Scott to see if the DA’s office has since received any letters or contact from the victims or their families and if any more victims have come forward. Scott has not returned phone calls yet.
More background
According to court records, D’Arrigo met a teenage boy through Craigslist in December 2008 who later introduced D’Arrigo to the alleged victims, a 15-year-old boy and 17-year-old boy.
D’Arrigo allegedly bought gifts for the teen boys, including a $300 iPod in 2008. And it was between December 2008 and January 2009 that he had several parties at his home at 883 Alder St. in Gilroy where he provided alcohol to four teen boys, and allegedly engaged in sexual activities with two of the teens.
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.
The four teen boys testified in August in front of a secret grand jury and an indictment was handed out Aug. 31, 2011. D’Arrigo was arrested on a $100,000 warrant Aug. 31, 2011 by the San Jose Police Department, the same day his home in Gilroy was searched by the Gilroy Police Department. He posted bail the following morning.
On Sept. 2, 2011 D’Arrigo originally pleaded “not guilty” to all three counts.
D’Arrigo’s last day with the San Jose Police Department was Feb 28. 2012 according to Tom Norris, the City of San Jose public records manager. He served as a sworn officer for 17 years. Norris said D’Arrigo was not listed as a retiree in the city’s retirement center and is not drawing any benefits.
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 involving Sandra Woodall, an investigator with the DA’s office. D’Arrigo and Manion were fired in January 2010 for their roles in the investigation, but were reinstated following arbitration.
D’Arrigo was on administrative leave from his arrest Aug. 31, 2011 until his resignation Feb. 28 at the SJPD. While on leave, he continued to receive paychecks toward his $97,198 base salary.
