Two local residents—one released from prison earlier this year and the other a downtown Hollister business owner—were arrested for failing to register as sex offenders with San Benito County authorities, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies March 20 arrested Jonathan Fidone, 29, and Gaetano Addamo, 46, because they were in violation of their requirement to register with the sheriff’s office as sex offenders, Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Taylor said in a press release. Neither of the men was registered as a sex offender at the time of their arrest.
Both suspects live in unincorporated San Benito County. Taylor said authorities do not know how long the men had lived in the local community.
Fidone registered as a sex offender in San Benito County Feb. 5, days after he was released from Kern Valley State Prison on a previous conviction that had been vacated by an appeals court. According to California Penal Code 290, the state law that sets out sex offenders’ registration requirements, sex offenders must register their place of residence every year within five days of their birthday. Fidone’s birthday was earlier this month. He had not registered as a sex offender again since his birthday, Taylor said.
Addamo—whose full name is Gaetano David Addamo—is the co-owner of restaurant and wine bar Aroma Cellar on San Benito Street in downtown Hollister. In a legal advertisement printed in the Hollister Free Lance in November 2017, David Addamo and Nicole Addamo are listed as the owners of the business.
Addamo remained in custody at the jail March 21, pending an arraignment in San Benito County Superior Court. He had been booked March 20 on suspicion of failing to register as a sex offender, in addition to a probation violation.
Phone calls to Aroma Cellar were not returned. Addamo’s LinkedIn profile lists his occupation as “Winemaker at Ca’ Del Grevino” in the Santa Barbara area.
Fidone was released from prison in January, after he won an appeal of his 2012 conviction on three felony sexual assault charges, according to court records. In that case, Fidone was accused of molesting a 19-month-old girl who was the daughter of a woman he was dating at the time.
He had been sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2012, but he was released early because of his successful appeal. The Sixth District Court of Appeal found in 2018 that Fidone’s appointed attorney, Arthur Cantu, in the 2012 criminal trial had been “prejudicially deficient” when he turned over a “highly incriminating” report from Cantu’s investigatory records to prosecutors, according to court records.
On Jan. 28, District Attorney Candice Hooper’s office struck a plea deal with Fidone in relation to the same 2012 incident. Fidone pleaded guilty to one count of felony child abuse. The Superior Court judge in that hearing determined Fidone had served adequate prison time for the crime, and ordered him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Fidone was released from local custody following the Jan. 28 hearing. On Feb. 5, Taylor told the Free Lance that Fidone had registered as a sex offender that day with the sheriff’s office.
On March 20, the same day he was booked for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender, Fidone posted $10,000 bail and was released from the county jail, according to jail staff.
Taylor said sheriff’s detectives conduct “routine audits” of the California Sex and Arson Registry system. A recent audit showed Fidone and Addamo were not in compliance with their registration requirements.
