Charges Dropped in Sheriff’s Deputy Rape Case

By Bay City News Service

The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday dismissed all charges against an Alameda County sheriff's deputy who had been accused of raping a woman in Moraga last year.

, a 28-year-old Union City man who has worked for the Sheriff's Department for three and a half years, was charged in December with rape and attempted forcible copulation for an alleged incident on Sept. 9.

His preliminary hearing on those charges was scheduled to begin in Contra Costa County Superior Court Tuesday but Senior Deputy District Attorney Nancy Georgiou announced that her office was dropping the charges against him because it couldn't prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Superior Court Judge Diana Becton-Smith then formally dismissed the charges against Reta.

Reta's attorney, Daniel Russo, said, "We're very pleased."

Russo said, "We did a massive investigation and interviewed about 100 people and we didn't find anything that supported the charges against him."

Reta always wanted to be a police officer and the charges against him "destroyed him," Russo said. Reta is now "happy to have his life back," he said.

Russo said Reta, who worked at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, "is the nicest guy in the world and is universally well-liked by everyone, even the inmates."

Reta appeared in court Tuesday with several family members and friends as well as about five other deputies who supported him.

Becton-Smith dismissed the case without prejudice, which means that the District Attorney's Office could re-file the charges in the future but Russo said, "We're pretty confident that won't happen."

He said Reta will now focus on getting his job back.