Tricia Caparra: Probation Counselor Had Sex With 2 Jailed Teens, Says Charging Doc Containing Graphic Details
Tricia Caparra was — at least until July — a probation counselor working for Santa Clara County, California, whose job was to help young offenders jailed as teenagers make the transition back to everyday society. But according to the detailed charges against her after she was arrested on Thursday, Caparra was providing exactly the wrong kind of help.
According to a report in The San Jose Mercury News, the 36-year-old Caparra was busted at her home in neighboring Santa Cruz County and accused of sexual contact with a 17-year-old boy who was incarcerated at William F. James Boys Ranch in Morgan Hill, about half-an-hour southeast of San Jose, California.
But that wasn’t all. Caparra is also charged with engaging in sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old inmate at the all-male detention facility, according to a report by TV station KRON in San Francisco.
In fact, the charges against Caparra say she had sex with the 18-year-old, who was still classified as a ward of the court, on at least 20 separate occasions. With the 17-year-old, she is accused of having non-penetrative sexual contact on “three or four” occasions and sexual intercourse on two other occasions.
The allegations against the probation counselor came to light in September of last year, a result of one of the two teens coming forward to reveal the alleged sexual activities. Caparra was placed on leave as the charges were investigated, and she resigned from her job in July, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
Tricia Caparra, ex-@SCCProbation officer, held for engaging in sexual activity w/17yo & 18yo?who were in probation custody,per @SCCoSheriff pic.twitter.com/Q6266PQsyc
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) September 28, 2017
In the case of the 18-year-old, Caparra is also charged with a felony for allegedly tipping the inmate off to upcoming drug tests, allowing him to register positive results due to the advance warnings.
According to a “statement of fact” filed by prosecutors in the Caparra case, Caparra and the 17-year-old, identified only as “John Doe,” engaged in the prohibited activities at “various locations” on the detention facility grounds.
“In those locations, they touched and rubbed each other’s genitals, over and under their clothing,” the court document reads. “On two occasions while off-site at a hotel and in a car, Tricia Caparra and John Doe engaged in sexual intercourse.”
The instances of sexual intercourse are being charged as felony offenses against Caparra. In one of the offsite encounters, “Caparra orally copulated John Doe’s genitals,” the statement of fact says. “That is a felony violation.”
Caparra’s sexual encounters with the 18-year-old, named as “John Doe II,” took place between January and August of 2016, while the alleged sex between Caparra and the 17-year-old happened between March and August of last year, according to the court document.
Read the entire court document detailing the charges against Caparra, embedded below.
Caparra appeared in court on Friday but did not enter a plea. Her next scheduled appearance will come on October 18, and until then she is being held on $655,000 bond. She faces 17 counts of sexual assault, including charges of sex with a consenting adult inmate or ward of the court, and unlawful sex with a minor and oral copulation with a minor. She is also charged with “unlawful access to privileged information” with regard to the older teen’s drug tests.
[Featured Image by Santa Clara County Department of Correction/AP Images]
