A new twist in the case against a former Paso Robles police sergeant accused of sex crimes.
The state Attorney General’s office is now reviewing the criminal case against Christopher McGuire.
According to a civil administrative claim, McGuire was accused of sexually assaulting a woman after responding to her home for a domestic abuse report in December 2017. The woman says McGuire returned to her home a few days later in civilian clothes, sexually assaulted her again and then continued to harass her for several more months.
When the woman reported the assault to police, an investigation was launched. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office reportedly sent the case to the District Attorney’s Office with a recommendation to file sexual assault charges against McGuire.
Last November, San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow stated that an investigation by his office concluded that “no reasonable and objective jury could find Mr. McGuire guilty of the alleged crimes.”
The woman’s attorney, Brian Claypool, then requested a review of the case by the state Attorney General’s office. In a letter dated April 10, Deputy Attorney General Nacy Ladner sent this reply, “Your letter has been forwarded to me, and our office is taking the matter under review. I will notify you of the results when our review has concluded.” There is no set timetable for the review.
On Wednesday, Claypool’s office told KSBY News an Attorney General review of the case is “significant.” It stated they have been denied other reviews in different cases in the past.
Dow says his office is aware of the review.
“We are fully cooperating and providing all of the investigation materials to them,” Dow said.
Civil case filing deadline under court review
On Monday, Claypool asked for a judge to grant an extension to file a civil claim. The administrative claim was filed in March against the City of Paso Robles.
The city did not file a response to the administrative claim. Claypool says the next step would normally be to file a civil lawsuit but the statute of limitations had run out due to the lengthy criminal investigation. Now a judge will need to decide if the woman’s civil claims can proceed against the city.
The court-filed documents state city employees knew or should have known of McGuire’s criminal conduct.
According to the claim, “City did nothing to intervene to investigate or stop McGuire’s conduct, which directly led to the multiple sexual assaults and harassment he perpetrated against Claimant.”
A hearing on the case will take place on June 18.
Under a new open records law, KSBY has requested numerous reports related to the department’s investigation. All of our requests were denied because no ‘sustained finding’ was issued in the internal investigation into McGuire’s alleged actions.
The internal investigation ended when McGuire resigned from the police force in October 2017.
