The Mercury News22%
Witnesses share sexual assault allegations involving former Windsor mayor during civil trial 11%
By Colin Atagi7%
7/24/2026, 2:45:24 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Negativity Bias, and Anecdotal, with Red Herring as the most egregious example at 14.4% saturation with 127 hits. Analysis detected 601 faulty-reasoning hits from 881 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 28% and a BS Rank of 11% (19,499 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 89.10% of the article peer group.
A San Francisco woman had a disturbing encounter in 2013 while sitting in a local winery’s hot tub with the man who would later become Windsor’s mayor, she told a jury Thursday, July 23.
Identified as Mary Doe, she testified in Dominic Foppoli’s civil trial in Sonoma County Superior Court, where he is being sued by seven women accusing him of sexual assault.
Doe is not part of the lawsuit.
But her testimony, along with that of another witness Thursday, illustrates the kind of behavior the plaintiffs maintain is at the center of a case that will enter its seventh day of testimony Friday, July 24.
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The 39-year-old Doe testified she and her friends were in a hot tub with Foppoli during a weekend stay at his family-owned Christopher Creek Winery in July 2013.
He had already overstayed his welcome after visiting their lodging, Doe said, when he placed her hand on his penis.
“What did I do to make this happen?”
Doe said when asked how she felt in the aftermath.
“All day, every day, I kept running it through my head.”
It was the culmination of events that marred what was supposed to be a joyous birthday celebration with Doe, a former partner and their friends.
Doe testified she and her partner met Foppoli when they visited the winery in April 2013 and later became winery members.
They booked the weekend getaway for themselves and their friends, although Doe’s partner missed it after catching the flu, she said.
The group was in its lodging when Foppoli showed up with wine and two young female staffers who, according to Doe, looked like they did not want to be there.
As the night progressed, Doe said, Foppoli removed the staffers’ clothing as he encouraged everyone to take blankets and don “togas.”
Doe said the group ended up in the hot tub a short time later.
Foppoli clapped his hands to shut off lights, she said, and his penis ended up in her hand.
“It was outside his shorts,” Doe testified.
“I don’t know why.”
She was visibly uncomfortable the next morning, she said, and one of her friends, who had no knowledge of what had happened the night before, tried to prevent Foppoli from approaching while seeing them off.
Doe said she later told the group what happened and her partner canceled their club membership.
She said she complained to a Windsor official in 2017 when she noticed Foppoli was on the town council.
“I was really upset he had gotten into politics,” she said.
Claims against Foppoli publicly surfaced in spring 2021 after a journalist contacted some of the women who are now plaintiffs in the suit.
More than a dozen women, including a Windsor Town Council member, came forward with additional allegations over the course of the following year.
On the witness stand Thursday, Doe said she was among those who came forward after an article detailing the allegations was published in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Foppoli denied all allegations but was pressured into resigning as mayor.
A criminal investigation was launched before the California Attorney General’s Office concluded there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against him.
Civil proceedings continued after the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in April 2022.
So far, four of the plaintiffs have testified.
Foppoli’s attorneys have briefly cross-examined most witnesses but are expected to fully present their case later in the trial.
Plaintiffs say assaults occurred during events linked to Christopher Creek Winery and the Active 20-30 Club, an international organization that helps children and encourages leadership skills in younger adults ages 20 to 39.
Foppoli had been a member of the local chapter, which is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Thursday’s proceedings concluded with testimony from a club official in Indiana, which appeared to indicate focus would fall on allegations related to the organization.
Instead, with less than 30 minutes of proceedings left, she shared what she said was her own encounter with Foppoli during a 2010 club gathering in Seattle.
Testifying via Zoom, the woman told jurors she was in bed when Foppoli asked if he could share her room.
She said yes, thinking they were friends and he was harmless.
He got into the bed, she said, and asked her to “cuddle.”
Despite her objections, she said, he pressed against her and touched her inappropriately “fairly quickly.”
“I told him no,” the woman testified Thursday.
She said Foppoli stopped, only to start up again shortly after.
She got out of bed, grabbed a pillow and said she was going to sleep elsewhere, she testified, and he finally stopped and asked if he could stay and play “Oregon Trail” on a phone.
You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com.
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30%flagged-word coverageMary Doe
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