A San Diego sheriff’s deputy is under criminal investigation, as two additional women have come forward with legal claims alleging that he improperly groped them under color of authority.

Deputy Richard Fischer has been placed on administrative leave by Sheriff Bill Gore while investigators conduct separate internal and criminal probes of the accusations, a department spokesman said.

The county of San Diego also faces a lawsuit and two claims, which are required to be filed in advance of civil litigation, as a result of the allegations. The accusations, one of which dates back two years, could cost the county millions of dollars in legal settlements.


San Diego attorney Dan Gilleon, who represents all three women, said the latest victims came forward after U-T Watchdog reported the first claim earlier this month.

“The only reason they spoke out was because of each other,” Gilleon said in an email Monday. “They found courage in each other’s willingness to come forward.”

Fischer, 31, has not responded to requests for comment. A man who said he was Fischer’s father told U-T Watchdog by telephone Monday that he would pass along a request to discuss the case.

Sheriff’s spokesman Ryan Keim issued a statement Monday about the widening allegations.


“The department placed Deputy Fischer on an administrative assignment and initiated concurrent administrative and criminal investigations immediately upon learning of the first allegation which was received in late October 2017,” the statement said.

“Deputy Fischer is currently on administrative leave while the department conducts a thorough investigation of each complaint,” the statement went on. “The department is prohibited by law from releasing specific details of personnel investigations. However, allegations of this nature are taken very seriously and the department will take any appropriate actions at the conclusion of the investigation.”

Gilleon said department officials were slow to respond to the allegations against Fischer. One of his clients reported the deputy’s behavior last year, according to records released by Gilleon.

“The Sheriff’s Department is not going out there trying to find other victims,” the attorney said by email. “Instead, it seems they commence an investigation only when I inform them that there’s another victim.”


Gilleon registered his concern with both the District Attorney’s Office and with Dianne Jacob, chairwoman of the county Board of Supervisors. A spokeswoman for District Attorney Summer Stephan declined to say whether the office is investigating Fischer; a spokesman for Jacob said the supervisor could not comment due to the ongoing investigation and litigation.

The latest allegation comes from a San Marcos woman, on whose behalf Gilleon filed a claim against county officials on Sunday.

According to the claim, the woman’s mother suffered a stroke in November 2016, two days after the death of her husband. According to the claim, the deputy responded to a 911 call related to the stroke, and he “removed his jacket as though he planned to stay a while.”

According to the claim, the deputy told the woman “she was ‘hot’ and that she needed a hug. Without her consent, he then hugged (her) with a full embrace that included fondling of her buttocks with his hands and inappropriate massaging of her breasts with his own chest.”


The claim identifies the woman, but the U-T has a policy against naming victims of sexual crimes without their consent.

According to the claim, the woman “pushed Dep. Fischer away but he persisted. He asked her for a kiss, and when she said no, he tried to kiss her anyway.” The claim says the woman “was terrified and insisted that he leave, but before he complied, Dep. Fischer informed (her) that he would be in the neighborhood watching out for her, an obvious attempt to intimidate her into keeping quiet about his criminal behavior.”

The claim seeks more than $6 million, plus “punitive damages against Dep. Fischer in an amount sufficient to punish him and his evil conduct, and to deter others from doing what he did.”

The claim references a lawsuit filed earlier this month, in which another woman claims Fischer repeatedly groped her during an unwarranted arrest in November 2015. She said Fischer continued to harass her, driving past her home and shining a light inside the residence.


According to the complaint, the woman reported the behavior to the sheriff’s Internal Affairs office in March 2016 and nothing was done. The claim from the San Marcos woman asserts that the county failed to act after the earlier complaint.

Sexual harassment cases can be expensive for local governments. The city of San Diego paid more than $8 million in 2014 to settle claims filed by 13 women that a former police officer groped or molested them. The 18-year department veteran was sentenced to more than eight years in state prison, and served about half that time before being released last year on good behavior.


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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald