San Mateo County is finally being sued due to negligence related to inaction in protecting minors in the San Mateo County Juvenile Detention system from institutional sexual molestation.
There are several cases now listed in San Mateo Superior Court related to institutional sexual abuse of minors provided by the County, including institutional representatives william h. ayres (convicted child molester) and now also Deputy Probation Officer john domeniconi (now deceased).
The lawsuits represent multiple victims who were minors being held in the County's juvenile detention system and who state that they were molested at the hands of psychiatric evaluator william ayres, or by probation officer domeniconi.
The suits present that the County and specific (names redacted) County representatives failed to implement oversight and protocols to protect the children it was responsible to care for while they were in County custody.
When I first started writing this blog, I was primarily interested in getting information about the trials out to other victims, as there was a dearth of information available in the press, probably due to the "icky" nature of these crimes -- they really don't sell newspapers. And also probably because the majority of the local press mostly acts as the propaganda outlet for the County.
As time wore on, it became very apparent to me that the County was clearly feeling that while they were pressured (externally) to prosecute the case against ayres, they really preferred for it to just go away, due to ayres links with County agencies (such as the juvenile detention system) and a variety of the County's high-profile politicians like Fox and Gordon. So really, none of this is a shock to me, but is a LONG time coming.
Here are some case numbers in the system. I've provided the complaint submissions in pdf formats, but for additional filings you can look at the County Court's search utility with the case numbers here:
https://www.sanmateocourt.org/online_services/odyssey_portals.php
The case against the County and officials relating to child molester william ayres is here:
Case 22-CIV-05492 (pdf)
A case against the County and officials relating to john domeniconi is here:
Case 22-CIV-05493 (pdf)
There are other related cases to the domeniconi case. I'll leave it to you to search these cases in the system linked above:
22-C1V-05397, 22-CIV-05402, 22-CIV-05404, 22-CIV-05405, 22-CIV-05493, 22—CIV-05494, 22—CIV-05495, 22-CIV-05496, 23-CIV—00033, 23-CIV-00034, 23-CIV-00035
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The San Mateo Daily Journal has printed (pdf) a brief article on the domeniconi related cases.
The San Mateo Daily Journal has also printed an article in which the County says: "I know NOTHINGGGGG..." (pdf).
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Victoria Balfour has been pursuing justice for the juveniles in the system who were abused by ayres for some time (she was talking about this well before ayres was found guilty)
In 2016, she wrote an article which was published in "Prison Legal News" (pdf) detailing some of the victims of ayres she'd found within San Mateo County's juvenile justice system. She has continued research in the interim, and it looks like her diligent work may finally help to get San Mateo to finally pay for (if not correct) its long inaction in these matters.
On an ironic note, I'm told that Victoria contacted probation officer domeniconi during her research prior even to ayres' arrest in 2007. Not surprising then that ultimately, he was unhelpful in finding ayres' victims in the system.
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On a final unrelated note: I finally found an obituary for william ayres. See the post immediately below this one.
william hamilton ayres was arrested on April 5, 2007 on charges relating to his molestation of many young boys while he was alleging to provide psychiatric care to private patients as well as referrals for evaluation from the juvenile court system in San Mateo County. After years of playing demented for the courts, ayres plead "No Contest" and was found guilty of all charges against him on May 16, 2013. ayres was sentenced to 8 years in prison on August 26, 2013. ayres was no longer under the conservatorship of his daughter Barbara Jett (née Ayres) of Sacramento, CA.
ayres has had significant interaction over the years with local politicians on boards like the "Children and Families First Commission," including the DA who was serving when prosecution began Jim Fox and Assemblyman Rich Gordon. In fact, Gordon nominated ayres for a lifetime achievement award for his "Tireless effort to improve the lives of children." ayres has also been vocally supported during his criminal trial by local head-shrinkers like Bart Blinder, Etta Bryant, Mel Blaustein, Harry Coren, Tom Ciesla, Robert Kimmich, Larry Lurie, Maria Lymberis, Richard Shadoan, Captane Thomson, and Harold Wallach. ayres was past president of both the Northern California Regional Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (NCROCAP) AND American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
The convicted child molester died in prison on April 20, 2016.
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