SAN FRANCISCO—On March 20, 2024, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office disclosed that a conviction was secured against San Francisco Police Officer Michael Herrera, 31, after a trial by jury for sexually groping a woman in a bar in the Marina District. Herrera was convicted of sexual battery (PC 243.4(e)(1)).
According to testimony and other evidence presented at trial, on December 10, 2021, the victim and her husband went to a bar on the 2000 block of Lombard Street. While there, the victim asked Herrera, an off-duty SFPD officer to share a booth so that she and her husband could have a place to sit. The defendant told the victim he was a SFPD Police Officer and then showed her photos of him and other SF police officers.
At the booth, with her husband next to her, Herrera grabbed the victim’s inner thigh, causing her to push away his hand and leave the table. As the victim later went to pay at the bar, the SFPD Officer walked up, stroked her hair, and then groped her vaginal area. The victim screamed at him for violating her and called 911.
The case against Herrera was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Curtis Boyd, from the District Attorney’s Office’s Independent Investigations Bureau, with assistance from District Attorney Investigators Rochell Bledsoe and Robert Chan, paralegal Daniel La and Victim Advocates Abby Cordova and Gabby Bayol who worked closely with the victim through the trial and IT support from Morris Moore and Noaeh Pinaire. Prosecutors were able to develop a strong case against Mr. Herrera because of the outstanding investigation of the San Francisco Police Department’s Investigative Services Division.
“I would like to thank the victim for her courageous and powerful testimony in this case,” said Assistant District Attorney Curtis Boyd. “The jury’s thoughtful verdict sends the message that no one is above the law and that the residents of San Francisco will not tolerate sexual abuse anywhere in any form by anyone.”
Herrera is currently out of custody. He faces up to one year in county jail and must register as a sex offender for ten years pursuant to Penal Code section 290. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8, 2024.
