Henry K. Lee
Chronicle Staff Writer
HAYWARD, Calif. — A former Hayward police officer who pleaded no contest to two counts of oral copulation with a minor has been remanded into custody for a 90-day evaluation, a prosecutor said.
Jeff Cristofani, 41, of Tracy will stay at San Quentin State Prison while being evaluated psychologically for his suitability for prison, Judge Michael Gaffey of Alameda County Superior Court said at a hearing Tuesday at the Hayward Hall of Justice.
In March, a judge is expected to sentence Cristofani to no more than two years and eight months in prison after taking into consideration the Department of Corrections’ evaluation as well as a report from Alameda County probation officials.
Cristofani must register as a sex offender after admitting in October that he had oral sex with one boy in December 2001 and with another in April 1997. He resigned from the Hayward Police Department in April after an 18-year career.
In exchange for Cristofani’s plea, prosecutors dropped three other charges, including another oral-copulation count and two counts of intimidating or dissuading a witness.
Police said Cristofani had threatened to shoot a 17-year-old boy if he told anyone that they had sex. Cristofani had also been accused of telling the boy to keep a second victim quiet.
Legally, pleading no contest is the same as pleading guilty, but the conviction cannot be used against the defendant in a lawsuit.
Cristofani’s attorney, Terry Bowman, has said her client took responsibility and was “looking forward to moving on and taking his life in a more positive direction.”
The allegations came to light earlier this year when one of the boys agreed to meet with Cristofani and carry a hidden tape recorder. The youth alluded to a threat the officer allegedly made to “shoot him if (the alleged victim) ever disclosed their sexual affair,” Hayward police said in a statement that outlined grounds for the arrest.
The same alleged victim told police he believed the officer had sexually assaulted his friend and reported that Cristofani had told him during an Internet chat to keep his friend quiet, the statement said.
Police contacted that person, who said Cristofani had orally copulated him at the officer’s Tracy home when the boy was 16, police said.
A search of the officer’s home after his arrest revealed images on his computer that “could be classified as child pornography” and photos depicting Cristofani “engaging in sexual relations with unknown young males,” police said.
Copyright 2007 The San Fransisco Chronicle