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Published on 03/10/1997 All articles from this issue

Ex-Los Altos cop goes to jail - sentencing next for Rafael Rosario

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Just two weeks before his 32nd birthday, an ex-Los Altos police officer was sent to jail.

Defense attorney Larry Peterson argued in court, during a sentencing hearing last Friday, that his client Rafael Rosario "had been at every hearing and shows no propensity to flee."

But after the probation report cited Rosario's lack of remorse and the vulnerability of the victims, Superior Court Judge James Chang sent the ex-cop to jail without bail.

The judge denied Peterson's motion for a new trial.

And the judge set March 21 for a formal sentencing hearing.

At that time, the defense will try "to persuade the judge he (Rosario) won't go to (state) prison," said Deputy District Attorney JoAnne McCracken.

On Jan. 21, after a six-week jury trial, Rosario was found guilty of all 12 charges, including felony sexual battery and felony assault by a police officer.

He faces up to a possible seven years of incarceration.

Law enforcement authorities agree that inmates hate cop prisoners almost as much as they loathe child molesters, and that life behind bars for a former cop can be a world of hurt.

Los Altos Police Sgt. John Hughmanick, who was in court Friday, said, "The whole thing is tragic."

Hughmanick came "to see some final resolution, for myself and on behalf of the department," he said.

Rosario, a five-year veteran of the Los Altos Police Department, was put on administrative leave in February 1996 as the district attorney investigated complaints that Rosario had sexually assaulted Los Altos women while on duty.

He was arrested in March 1996 and released on his own recognizance.

After an internal affairs investigation led by Hughmanick, the city fired Rosario in August 1996.

According to the nine victims who testified during the trial, including two city employees, Rosario grabbed their breasts or stalked and harassed them.

He must now register as a sex offender, McCracken said.

And as a convicted felon he can never work again in law enforcement.

Rosario's wife sat in the back row of the court, with Rosario, until he was called forward.

She held her head in her hands when Rosario was taken into custody.

She declined to comment.