Suspended cop faces San Mateo County elder abuse charge

Daugherty has been in custody since his arrest Tuesday on a federal criminal charge of robbing a bank in the Sunset District of the city of $9,050 on Nov. 29.

The detention hearing will be conducted by U.S. Magistrate Sallie Kim.

Daugherty is also one of nine officers facing Police Department administrative charges of sending racist text messages and additionally has been accused of elder abuse and drug possession in an unrelated criminal case in San Mateo County Superior Court.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steven Wagstaffe said that in the Peninsula case, Daugherty is accused of stealing $13,095 from a 76-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease between Sept. 1 and Dec. 1, 2017.

Daugherty had been hired to do errands such as grocery shopping and driving for the man, Wagstaffe said. After getting a tip from a family friend, an investigation allegedly found that surveillance tapes showed that Daugherty used the man’s ATM card while alone on 30 occasions to withdraw a total of $13,095, according to Wagstaffe.

A search of Daugherty’s residence on Dec. 1 found small amounts of cocaine and three other drugs, Wagstaffe said.

Daugherty was charged on July 24 with one felony count of elder abuse and four misdemeanor counts of drug possession. He could be sentenced to up to five years in state prison if convicted, the district attorney said.

Daugherty will have a preliminary hearing on those charges in San Mateo County Superior Court Feb. 1.

Wagstaffe said he could not comment specifically on Daugherty’s case, but said of elder abuse in general, “It’s an evil act.”

“An individual who is willing to steal from someone suffering from dementia is a particularly mean-spirited and cruel person,” he said.

In the bank robbery case, Daugherty could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.

San Francisco police spokesman Officer Adam Lobsinger said Daugherty was suspended without pay July 24. He said he could not say whether the reason was the San Mateo County charges filed that day.

Lobsinger also said he could not comment on the status of the departmental disciplinary proceedings against Daugherty and eight others. The proceedings were delayed while the officers, in a lawsuit led by Daugherty, claimed that the deadline in the statute of limitations had been passed.

But the way was cleared for those proceedings when the state Court of Appeal and California Supreme Court rejected that claim in decisions earlier this year.

The San Francisco Police Officers Association issued a statement in response to the bank robbery charge, saying that the group “is disgusted by the alleged criminal actions of one of our former members.”

“We are sworn to uphold the law and are dedicated to honorably serving all San Franciscans. This individual should be held accountable for this shameful act he is accused of and if found guilty, through due process, he should face the appropriate consequences,” the association said.