Grand jury indicts Griesa

Marysville towing company manager Joseph Patrick Griesa was arraigned today in Yuba County Superior Court on an 18-count indictment alleging numerous felony sexual offenses against minor female employees of his company.

Griesa, 43, was arrested and booked into Yuba County Jail after a hearing before Judge Julia Scrogin. Bail was set at $100,000.

Griesa contacted the Appeal-Democrat late Monday afternoon after posting the bail.

"I know I'll be found innocent of all charges. I've always lived my life in a law-abiding fashion. I've always tried to do the right thing," Griesa said.

"The small group of people who've said such terrible things about me" will be proved wrong in the end, he said.

Griesa said he was forced to resign as manager and a corporate officer of Mitchell's Towing Service, which is owned by his father, Robert, and is no longer a shareholder.

Charges include sexual battery, false imprisonment, assault likely to produce great bodily injury, forcible sexual penetration, oral copulation with a minor and concealment of a child from her legal custodian.

The alleged offenses involve five victims and occurred between April 2005 and November 2007. Each felony is punishable by three to eight years in prison, said District Attorney Pat McGrath.

A grand jury considered evidence from 21 witnesses before presenting the indictment, which also alleges that Griesa, as an officer of Mitchell's' Towing Service, failed to make unemployment insurance payments to the state for the employees.

Griesa pleaded not guilty to all charges through his Redwood City attorney, Charles Smith.

"We are going to fight these charges. We intend to do so," said Smith.

Scrogin rejected Smith's request to let Griesa remain free while bail money was arranged, saying she was treating Griesa like any other defendant.

Griesa, a long-time member of the community, is not a flight risk, and publicity about the alleged sexual offenses precludes "conduct of this type" from occurring, said Smith.

Griesa was a Sutter County probation agent while Scrogin was a deputy district attorney in that county. Scrogin said she was not disqualifying herself from conducting the arraignment because of the past association. Another judge will preside over Griesa's trial, she said.

Judge Kathleen O'Connor is expected to set a trial date at Griesa's next hearing, scheduled Nov. 10.

To ensure an impartial jury at Griesa's trial, a transcript of grand jury testimony will not be released until the trial is over, Scrogin ruled. "Inordinate" publicity about the Griesa case has already occurred, she said.

The grand jury turned over the sealed indictment Wednesday.

"The breadth of the investigative inquiry required substantial time and resources, including the need to access potential witnesses who were uncooperative, under the age of 18, had relocated, or were represented by various attorneys due to pending civil litigation," said McGrath.

Two of Griesa's alleged victims have filed civil lawsuits against him in Sutter County Superior Court.

In a grand jury proceeding, prosecutors must present evidence of both guilt and innocence. The jury indicts only if the evidence warrants a conviction by a trial jury, said McGrath.

Besides his own office, investigating agencies were the Marysville Police Department, the Sutter County Sheriff's Department, the Sutter County District Attorney's Office and the California Employment Development Department.

In a related matter, McGrath's office is investigating an alleged bribery attempt by two local attorneys. According to an affidavit filed in May, Marysville attorney David Vasquez, who represented Griesa, conspired with Yuba City attorney Jesse Santana to keep one of the five victims silent by having Griesa pay her $100,000. The money was never paid.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.