Top Mirkarimi Deputy Now Charged With Domestic Violence
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) – As suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi undergoes an ethics hearing that could result in his removal from office for a domestic violence-related conviction, one of his top deputies has now also been charged in an unrelated domestic violence case, according to the district attorney's office.
Police arrested Lt. Vincent Calvarese last Thursday. District Attorney's spokeswoman Stephanie Ong Stillman confirmed to CBS 5 late Tuesday afternoon the alleged domestic violence incident happened at the Gold's Gym on Market Street.
Lt. Calvarese was charged with assault and false imprisonment. The alleged victim is someone Calavarese knew and had some sort of relationship with, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Susan Fahey told SF Weekly, which first reported on the arrest.
Calvarese, who is openly gay, was featured in a 2009 documentary The Butch Factor. He was a top fund-raising sponsor for a San Francisco Pride Week function last month.
A domestic violence incident resulted in Calvarese's boss, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, pleading guilty to false imprisonment of his wife and led to his suspension by Mayor Ed Lee. Lee is using a provision of the city charter specific to elected officials to try to remove Mirkarimi from office permanently.
Since Calvarese is not an elected official, should he be found guilty of the charges, "a disciplinary process will start within the department," Fahey said to the Weekly.
Calvarese was scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
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