Woman seeking $1.75 million after SLO County firefighter fondled breasts

June 9, 2021

By KAREN VELIE

An employee of the Cal Fire station in Los Osos filed a $1.75 million claim against the department after a fire captain allegedly stuck his hand up her shirt and pulled on her nipples.

The woman – whose name is blacked out in her May 11 claim against Cal Fire, San Luis Obispo County and the Los Osos Community Services District – said then Captain James Peter Thomas, 56, walked up to her desk on Dec. 2, said “hi,” and attempted to give her a hug. Thomas then allegedly stuck his hand up the woman’s shirt and began tugging on her nipples, according to the claim.

The suit accuses Thomas of telling the female employee, “I never felt nipples like that before” and “I don’t know why I did that.” Later in the day, Thomas allegedly asked the woman to tell him “bye before she left for the day and left his phone number on a post-it note.”

A week later, the female employee reported the alleged sexual assault to the SLO County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives arrested Thomas on Dec. 14 for sexual battery and booked him in the SLO County Jail. He has since been released from custody.

Thomas retired from the San Luis Obispo County Fire Department several days after his arrest.

In January, Thomas pled not guilty to a single misdemeanor count of sexual battery.

The claim says that government officials failed to “take reasonable measures to protect claimant from Captain James Peter Thomas.”

If the claim is not accepted, the female employee plans to file a lawsuit against Cal Fire, the Los Osos CSD, SLO County and the city of SLO for compensatory and punitive damages. The Los Osos CSD Board voted last week to deny the claim.