On Tuesday, May 15 Dominic Caserta resigned from the Santa Clara City Council and will no longer campaign for the County Board of Supervisors District 4 seat.
Over the past couple of weeks Caserta has been embroiled in controversy as sexual misconduct allegations came forward—including accusations from Santa Clara High School students from over a decade ago.
“The hallmark of a successful elected official is to effectively and passionately serve his or her constituents. I can no longer do that at this time,” said Caserta in a press release. “As a result, I have decided to resign my seat on the Santa Clara City Council, something that is against every instinct in my body. In addition, as a former front runner for the Board of Supervisors, I can no longer effectively communicate the issues that I am campaigning on… Thus, I am suspending my campaign for Supervisor and will no longer actively campaign.”
In a press release, Caserta blamed the Santa Clara Unified School District for “illegally” releasing his personnel file and the media for his fall.
“The allegations against me are false in every sense of the word, yet I have been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion without due process or recognition of my distinguished service to the school or the city. Reading the papers, online reports, and watching the news is too much for my family and me to bear. The past week has been unbelievably excruciating.”
The Santa Clara City Council was due to discuss the allegations against Caserta and consider asking for his resignation at tonight’s (May 15) Council Meeting.
Additionally, Caserta’s resignation leaves an empty seat on the Council that will be filled via appointment in the coming weeks.
*Update: The City called for a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on May 15.
Well, here we go again! There was an agenda item to discuss the conduct of Council Member Dominic Caserta pertaining to sexual misconduct. At 7 pm, May 15 2018 Dominic was not a Council Member yet he was discussed & cussed for about 2 hours anyways. Why? I believe it was be caused he had crossed our Mayor. The gang of five had no reason to conduct last night’s witch hunt, Dominic had been hit, crashed & burned. Mostly self induced. The Mayor was at her snippiest in an unrelenting attack on councilmanic remains. Once Dominic resigned the rest of the story should have been left to Santa Clara Police & SCU School District. No One was safe, not even those who release public document information
Ed Richards
20 years ago, Caserta used to teach at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino, CA over. He was highly recommended and brought on board by the Principle, Father Andrew Sotelo, S.J., One evening, I was passing my daughter’s bedroom, (who was a student there) when I heard her talking on the telephone. She was telling whoever was on it, she didn’t want to tell him the color of her underwear. I was shocked and demanded to know who was on the phone. My daughter told me it was Caserta, a teacher at her high school. She was 15 years old at the time. The next morning, I called the office and demanded that Caserta call me, which he did on his lunchtime. He told me that he “loved” my daughter and that he was sure we’d get along great, and that he wanted to marry her! I told him he was f___ing crazy. I then called the principal and demanded a meeting. When my wife and I went in to meet with Sotelo, there was a nun at the meeting as well taking notes. When I expressed my outrage at Caserta’s behavior, the principle told us that my daughter was pursuing Caserta and it was all documented, and that she was never go into his classroom again. My daughter’s school friends all knew what was happening and confirmed her side that said Caserta pursued her relentlessly. They said he frequently told my daughter to come into his class after hours, even though he was not her teacher. He went into her student file to get our phone #, he even sent her a letter saying he wanted to f___ her! I threatened to go to the local newspaper, but the principle said it would stop. I think Caserta left after that year. Some years later, Andrew Sotelo was on an episode of 60 minutes for sexual harassment. Look up his name on Google. He currently is a student advisor at Culver City School District.