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Published on 12/23/1996 All articles from this issue

5 testify about unwanted touching by former officer

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Testimony moved quickly in the trial of the former Los Altos Police officer, Rafael Rosario, 30, who faces 12 criminal charges including felony sexual assault.

By last Thursday, the end of the second week of the trial, the five victims of Rosario's alleged inappropriate touching had testified. Two of the other four women who had complained about Rosario had also testified.

"We've put on the bulk of the case," said Deputy District Attorney JoAnne McCracken.

One victim wept throughout her testimony.

"This is very difficult for everyone," said Officer Bev Lucich, an investigator for the district attorney's office.

One victim told of Rosario coming to her house in Los Altos repeatedly, of his engaging her in public, of his asking to pat-search her in front of her son.

"There were so many incidents it is hard to remember them all," she told the jury.

She did not formally complain about him for about three months.

Larry Peterson, defense attorney for Rosario and himself a former police officer, raised questions about why she did not complain to police sooner.

Another victim told the jury how her encounter with Rosario, last Jan. 8, also began with a car stop. After Rosario checked her license and it was cleared, she said that Rosario asked if she had a weapon.

"Then he shined his flashlight into my car, then he reached out and touched me on the side of my breast. There's no way this was an accidental touching," she said.

The victim's mother, a longtime Los Altos resident and a doctor, told the jury that her daughter, "was very upset and cried. She'd lost her trust in the police force."

Rosario was put on administrative leave Feb. 23, 1996, and was fired by the city in August 1996, following an internal affairs investigation.

The trial, on a holiday recess, is expected to continue into the third week of January.