Fairfax County Police Watch: Lawsuit claim: San Jose cop accused of rape sexually assaulted another woman just months earlier

By Tracey Kaplan

SAN JOSE -- The woman who prosecutors contend was raped by an on-duty San Jose police officer has made an explosive new accusation in a lawsuit, alleging that the cop had sexually assaulted "at least one other woman" just months earlier.

The lawsuit further alleges that the department knew or should have known about his conduct but failed to make sure he was accompanied by a second officer "at all times."

Officer Geoffrey Graves' lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. The woman's attorney also did not respond to requests for more information to support the new accusations, which are described only briefly in the lawsuit.

Earlier this year, Santa Clara County prosecutors charged Graves with raping an undocumented woman in September 2013, whom he first encountered during a disturbance call. The criminal complaint also charges Graves with two counts of felony domestic violence for allegedly injuring his then-girlfriend in incidents unrelated to the alleged rape.

But Graves is not charged with sexually assaulting anyone other than the alleged rape victim.

Assistant District Attorney Terry Harman, who oversees the office's sexual crimes team, declined to comment directly Tuesday on the new accusations, saying it is not the office's practice to discuss civil lawsuits. But Harman did not rule out the possibility of filing new charges, though she also stood by the existing complaint.

"We charged the appropriate crimes based on the evidence known to us," Harman said.

Graves is free on $100,000 bail and has been on paid administrative leave since March.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month, names Graves, the department and city. It seeks an unspecified amount of punitive damages, as well as compensation for loss of earnings, medical costs and attorney's fees, on the grounds that the officer committed sexual assault/battery and violated the woman's civil rights, and the department and city were negligent.

The San Jose City Attorney's Office had objected to the filing, insisting that the alleged rape victim had lost her right to sue because she had filed a financial claim against the city, a mandatory prerequisite to a lawsuit, after the six-month deadline. City Attorney Rick Doyle declined to comment on the contents of the lawsuit, but said the office plans to defend the officer and the department.

But the woman's lawyer, Roger Hecht, argued that his client, who is undocumented and speaks limited English, was too traumatized after being sexually assaulted to file on time and was misled by government officials about her legal rights. A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge then waived the deadline, allowing the suit to proceed.

Graves faces up to eight years in prison if he is convicted. However, experts say prosecutors could add a gun enhancement because he was armed at the time of the alleged sexual assault, potentially extending his maximum sentence to life in prison.

Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482. Follow her atTwitter.com/tkaplanreport.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.