Sonoma County Sheriff Hands Off Investigation of Former Windsor Mayor Foppoli to State A.G.

SANTA ROSA (CBS SF) -- The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has turned over its 11-month sexual assault investigation into former Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli to California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office, sheriff's spokesperson Sgt. Juan Valencia confirmed.

Foppoli is accused of multiple sexual assaults going back to 2001, as first outlined by the San Francisco Chronicle last year.

The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office recused itself from the case because one of Foppoli's accusers, former deputy district attorney Esther Lemus, worked for the office, a spokesperson for the district attorney's office confirmed.

Sheriff deputies searched Foppoli's home in November and seized some of his personal belongings in connection with their sexual assault investigations.

At the time Valencia told the Press Democrat "the search warrant was the first served in the ongoing investigation into Foppoli." Valencia also said that "deputies recovered items from the residence" but did not provide any additional details.

The embattled Windsor mayor resigned last May amid ongoing state and local investigations and after an allegation by a reality television personality who said she was assaulted by Foppoli while he was visiting Florida earlier that year.

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