Son of former Watsonville city manager alleges Dutra groped him in testimony on third day of sex-abuse trial

A second allegation of inappropriate behavior surfaced Wednesday in the civil sex-abuse trial of Watsonville City Councilmember Jimmy Dutra in Santa Cruz County Superior Court. 

Damacio Montoya, the 29-year-old son of former Watsonville City Manager Charles Montoya, testified that Dutra groped him at a 2018 event in the city. After it happened, Montoya told jurors, one of Dutra’s colleagues on the city council then connected him with Stephen Siefke, the man whose lawsuit has accused Dutra of sexual abuse in 2005. 

Siefke also took the stand on Wednesday, detailing the night of the alleged assault, when Dutra was 30 and he was 12. He denied Dutra’s assertion that he was pressured to file his lawsuit to damage Dutra’s candidacy for county supervisor two years ago. 

The lawsuit was filed about a month before a 2022 election in which Dutra was campaigning for District 4 county supervisor, a race he ultimately lost. He is currently running for reelection to the Watsonville City Council. Dutra has consistently denied the allegations.

Montoya testified via a pre-recorded video on Wednesday afternoon. The son of former Watsonville City Manager Charles Montoya, who left the position in 2018, he now lives in Arizona. Damacio Montoya testified that Dutra came up behind him and grabbed his buttocks while he was in a conversation at an event in the city in 2018. He said that he spoke with others who saw it happen, and said they thought that Dutra was “groping me.”

Montoya said he discussed the incident in 2019 with Watsonville City Councilmember Casey Clark, a good friend of his and his father, who “didn’t seem surprised,” and put him in touch with Siefke. 

Dutra testified on Monday that he and Clark had a “complicated friendship.” Clark was also close with Susie McBride, the partner of Dutra’s late father, and acted as her caretaker of sorts near the end of her life, according to testimonies from Siefke and his mother. Dutra’s attorney has suggested that McBride, described as “a second mother” to Siefke, pressured him to make the allegations against Dutra to damage his political career amid a dispute over Dutra’s father’s estate.

Montoya said Clark told him about Siefke’s allegations during that 2019 conversation and asked if he would write Siefke a letter to let him know what happened to him.

“After the letter was given to Mr. Siefke, I kind of removed myself from it and didn’t want to know anything additional,” Montoya said.

Montoya said that he never told his father about the alleged groping, and that he never spoke with his father about Dutra or any other city councilmembers because he wanted to stay separate from his dad’s work in politics.

An emotional Siefke discussed his relationship with McBride on Wednesday. He said his parents “encouraged” his close relationship with her, and that they were glad to have someone whom they could trust to take care of their son while they worked full-time. He said that she encouraged his passion for fashion design and his creative abilities. 

Siefke said he had gone to Los Angeles in 2005 with McBride and Dutra’s father to visit Disneyland and to see a traveling King Tut display. He recalls meeting Dutra at his house, said that his first read of him was positive, and that he looked up to him.

“I showed up to a really nice house in L.A. with a really nice car and he seemed like a really friendly person,” said Siefke. “He had his headshots on the table and he was going to all of these events. In my childhood mind, it felt like a celebrity, someone really important.”

Siefke said the alleged molestation happened on the last night of the trip. He said that he, Dutra, McBride and Dutra’s father had dinner, after which Dutra left to go to an event. He recalls sleeping on an air mattress in the living room — though Dutra previously denied owning an air mattress. He also said that Dutra slept on the couch in the same room. Dutra has denied ever having slept on the couch. In testimony Monday, he said that it was actually a loveseat, and was not big enough for someone to sleep on, much less two people.

Siefke testified that Dutra came home at some point in the night, and Siefke said he heard Dutra and another man laughing and “shushing” as they entered the house. He said the two men got onto the couch and continued laughing and making noise that Siefke said he “can now identify as sexual noises.” He said the men got quiet, and someone kneeled down by where he was sleeping, undid his belt and pants, and slid his hand into his pants.

“At that point, I had rolled over because I didn’t understand why that was happening to me, and that’s when I heard Jimmy whisper in my ear and tell me it’s OK,” he said, adding that he smelled alcohol during the incident.

Siefke said he recalls his mother being the first person he told about the alleged incident following his later arrest for possession of marijuana and an open container of alcohol. He said that he did not go to the police in Los Angeles when his mother asked him to do so because he simply wasn’t ready.

“I felt like I did something wrong and like I was in trouble for something,” he said. “It just wasn’t something I was ready to tackle at that age.”

Siefke acknowledged that McBride encouraged him to go forward with legal action in 2018, but said that he did not because he still was not ready. 

When Dutra’s attorney, Christopher Panetta, asked Siefke whether he recalled if McBride’s push for him to file the lawsuit in 2018 was related to Dutra running for supervisor at that time as well, he said that looking back, he does think that “that was Susie’s motive.” He added that he eventually stopped talking to her after that exchange.

“At that point, it felt like she was trying to loop me into something that wasn’t focused on me telling my story,” said Siefke.

Siefke also denied that McBride ever helped him prepare the official complaint, but said he did know that McBride and Dutra did not get along. However, he said that ultimately, no outside pressure resulted in him filing the lawsuit in 2022.

Siefke said that seeing Dutra’s campaign signs and learning that he worked in schools and with kids around the same age as Siefke when the alleged molestation occurred caused him severe stress: “I don’t believe in coincidences like that.” 

Dr. Anthony Urquiza, a professor emeritus at UC Davis who specialized in pediatrics and the effects of child abuse during his time as a clinician, testified that he evaluated Siefke earlier this year and the results suggested post-traumatic stress disorder, general anxiety disorder and persistent depression disorder. Under questioning, he said that Siefke identified only the alleged molestation as a source of his mental health issues and not other stressful life events such as childhood bullying, his partner’s infidelity or his mother leaving without notice for several days when he was a child.

The trial continues Thursday at 8:30 a.m., with the tail end of Montoya’s testimony.

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