Court testimony details sex abuse charges against former Hanna Boys Center clinical director

A young man who lived at the Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma testified Thursday that he feared he would be forced from the program for at-risk youth if he did not give in to the sexual advances of a staff counselor, and that those encounters - starting with pornography shared by the counselor and masturbation - became routine and lasted over a period of at least five years.

The 24-year-old witness, who was 13 when he came to the Hanna Boys Center, was the second person to take the stand Thursday in Sonoma County Superior Court against Kevin Thorpe, 40, of Rohnert Park, who is charged with 38 counts of child sexual abuse between 2006 and June of last year, when he was arrested. By that time, he had been promoted to the job of clinical director at the residential center, which is affiliated with the Santa Rosa Diocese of the Catholic Church and dates back more than 70 years in Sonoma Valley.

At least two of the four males in the criminal case who say they were abused by Thorpe were in his care at Hanna.

The preliminary hearing that began Thursday will determine if there is sufficient evidence in the case against Thorpe for it to go to trial. The hearing featured testimony from two of the males whom prosecutors say Thorpe sexually abused, in part by taking advantage of his role as a trusted member of the Hanna Boys Center staff.

The 24-year-old witness said his encounters with Thorpe began soon after he arrived as a teenager. He said Thorpe invited him to look at pornography and masturbate in Thorpe’s office and at his home. He said he didn’t want to say no because it might mean he’d be sent back to his aunt’s home, which he’d gone to Sonoma to escape.

The witness, known in court as John Doe 1, said Thorpe reinforced the boy’s silence, frequently noting that if anyone found out about their relationship he would likely be “kicked out” and lose his scholarship, according to testimony. He felt “like I couldn’t tell anybody, and even if I did, nobody would believe me,” he said from the stand. “It made me feel scared, too, like I didn’t have a choice.”

Thorpe, a married father of two girls and a 14-year Hanna Boys Center employee before he was fired last year, has pleaded not guilty. Thorpe’s defense attorney, Joe Stogner of Santa Rosa, did not dispute that the encounters with Thorpe described in court took place. Instead, he sought to suggest that they were not forced.

The preliminary hearing was scheduled to continue today, when Judge Dana Simonds was expected to decide whether the case will proceed to trial.

The center earlier this year avoided a potential state shutdown that stemmed from the scandal, which includes a whistleblower case brought by Thorpe’s predecessor at Hanna. The three-year probation deal it accepted called for increased oversight and training requirements to enhance personal safety and security for the 100 or so at-risk boys enrolled at the residential center. It included an admission that the allegations against Thorpe were serious enough to warrant a disciplinary case against the program, a concession that does not extend to criminal court.

The state findings referenced seven victims of Thorpe at Hanna, which investigators faulted for failing to protect the personal rights of the children and providing inadequate supervision.

Thursday’s testimony featured moments of wrenching emotion and graphic descriptions of sexual encounters that prosecutors say Thorpe initiated or enabled with his victims.

John Doe 1 briefly broke down as he began to testify about his experience. He was called to the stand after an initial witness, John Doe 4, was overcome when prompted by Deputy District Attorney Andrew Lukas to describe his experience meeting Thorpe in 2016. The 17-year-old’s expression darkened, and he was trembling and weeping within moments. Unable to continue, he was excused from the stand and did not return.

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Piccinini picked up his story. He testified about an alleged relationship that developed between Thorpe and the boy, who was not a Hanna resident, after Thorpe suggested they spend more time together. It involved smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol with some regularity, at least twice to the point of blacking out, Piccinini testified.

Piccinini said the teenager told investigators that during the eight months or so before Thorpe’s arrest, the two took numerous daytrips, jumped nude on the trampoline in Thorpe’s back yard, and masturbated together on the beach.

The teen also described taking a shower with Thorpe and his two daughters at their home, though he initially withheld information about the girls’ involvement, Piccinini said.

Thorpe reportedly did not touch the boy on those occasions, but he described once waking up nude on the couch at Thorpe’s home and discovering the man was on top of him, naked, their teeth touching, Piccinini said. He said Thorpe kissed him another time in the kitchen at his house.

John Doe 4 also told investigators Thorpe urged him to keep their relationship private “because people wouldn’t understand,” Piccinini said.

As with the other person who testified Thursday, John Doe 4 said Thorpe had assured him that viewing pornography and masturbating together was a normal thing for friends to do, Piccinini said.

John Doe 1 testified that his interactions with Thorpe escalated from such encounters to oral sex performed by Thorpe when the boy was in ninth grade.

He said Thorpe told him “It’s not gay. We’re just helping each other.”

In one instance, John Doe 1 said Thorpe was on his knees in his office, performing oral sex on the boy, when a Hanna Boys Center teacher walked in. The teacher covered his eyes, exclaimed “Oh, my God,” and walked out, the young man testified.

The same allegation was made in a civil suit filed by the young man against Thorpe, the Hanna Boys Center and the Santa Rosa Diocese, which have disputed the account of a teacher witnessing alleged sexual abuse by Thorpe.

The young man described his early upbringing in a troubled family, where he’d been beaten by his father and had a mother who was a drug addict. His aunt, with whom he ended up, yelled a lot, which was hard for him to tolerate, so he was grateful and excited to find a place at Hanna Boys Center.

But his encounters with Thorpe made the refuge a tenuous and complicated one, the witness testified.

Under cross-examination by Thorpe’s defense attorney, he conceded that after graduation from Hanna he tried to cut off his relationship with Thorpe at first.

But he ultimately needed emotional support, and Thorpe “was the only person I was close to … who knew me.”

He later got into counseling and filed the lawsuit against Thorpe and the boys center because of the alleged abuse.

“I think about it all the time and I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said. “It’s hard for me to sleep and wake up and go to school and do normal things.”

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.