People v. Fontes CA1/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 2025
DocketA171757
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Fontes CA1/3 (People v. Fontes CA1/3) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Fontes CA1/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Filed 12/22/25 P. v. Fontes CA1/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A171757 v. PETERSON WILLIAM FONTES, (Napa County Super. Ct. No. 19CR001470) Defendant and Appellant.

Peterson William Fontes was convicted by a jury of forcible sexual penetration by a foreign object (Pen. Code1 § 289, subd. (a)(1)(A)) (two counts), second degree burglary (§ 459), and felony vandalism (§ 594, subd. (b)(1)). He was sentenced in 2020 to an aggregate term of 16 years and eight months, including upper term sentences on the forcible sexual penetration counts. In 2022, we affirmed Fontes’s convictions but remanded for resentencing based on intervening changes in sentencing law. Upon remand, the trial court reimposed the same sentence. On appeal from resentencing, Fontes argues the court committed prejudicial error by reimposing the upper term sentences on the forcible

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.Any discussion of jury findings in this opinion refers to factual findings made beyond a reasonable doubt.

1 sexual penetration counts based on, among other factors, two challenged aggravating factors under California Rules of Court, rule 4.4212 that were not found true by a jury. We affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND The charges in this case stem from two separate incidents at outdoor festivals in 2019 in Napa County (Jane Doe 1) and Alameda County (Jane Doe 2). The prosecution’s theory was that on each occasion Fontes cut holes in the walls of adjacent porta-potty units, surreptitiously watched through the holes as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 urinated, and reached through the holes and penetrated their genitals with his fingers. Factual Summary The following summary is based on our previous opinions in People v. Fontes (Sept. 30, 2021, A159406, A162101) [nonpub. opn.] (Fontes I) and People v. Fontes (Jan. 26, 2022, A159406, A162101) [nonpub. opn.] (Fontes II) as the relevant facts are not in dispute.3 Jane Doe 2 Incident “On May 12, 2019, Jane Doe 2 was working at a festival in Alameda County. That afternoon she left her booth to use one of three porta-potty units, specifically the larger handicapped unit. She pulled down her pants and underwear and squatted above the toilet with her hands on her knees. She felt something touching her posterior and at first thought it was her shirt, but then realized it was a hand. She looked between her legs and saw a pale, white hand that looked male. ‘[T]he hand was pretty much in [her] vagina like touching [her], grabbing [her].’ She felt fingers on her labia. At

2 All further rule references are to the California Rules of Court. 3 We grant the Attorney General’s unopposed August 14, 2025 request

for judicial notice of the records in Fontes I and Fontes II. (Rule 8.252(a).)

2 the time the fingers were grabbing between ‘[her] vaginal lips,’ ‘[i]t was definitely discomforting. It was . . . a lot of pressure.’ The hand was ‘[s]queezing’ and the fingers were ‘wiggly.’ She ‘freaked out,’ could not believe there was a hand, felt scared, and did not feel like she could move – she felt like she ‘got stuck.’ She screamed, jumped up, ‘peed all over’ herself, pulled up her underwear, and got out of the bathroom. She felt ‘scared,’ ‘[c]onfused,’ ‘[n]ervous,’ and ‘[e]mbarrassed.’ After she screamed, the hand disappeared ‘back into the hole it came from.’ She was ‘rattled,’ felt ‘a tightness in [her] chest,’ and her ‘head started hurting.’ The touching lasted ‘three seconds.’ The incident lasted ‘no more than 20 seconds’ from the time she pulled down her pants to when she pulled them up. Once outside, Jane Doe 2 did not see anyone running but the people outside told her that they had seen someone run behind the porta-potty unit and down the street. [¶] . . . [¶] “Alameda Police Officer Eric McKinley met with Jane Doe 2 at the police station one block from the festival. Visibly shaken, voice unsteady, and eyes puffy and watery as if she had been crying, Jane Doe 2 explained that a hand touched her genitalia as she was urinating in a porta-potty unit. She initially estimated she was touched for three seconds, but then said it was two seconds. “Officer McKinley walked to the festival and photographed the damaged porta-potty unit used by Jane Doe 2 and the damaged adjacent porta-potty unit; the units were ‘set up against each other,’ with a small gap of approximately three or four inches between the units; and the jury was shown photographs of the damaged units. There was a small four-side rectangular hole (six inches by five inches) in the wall of the unit used by Jane Doe 2, and there was also a small [three]-sided hole cut to operate as a flap in the wall of the adjacent porta-potty unit. The holes in the units ‘were

3 in line horizontally, but vertically they were askew.’ However, the officer was able to see between the units when the flap was moved to reveal the hole in the porta-potty unit adjacent to the unit used by Jane Doe 2. The holes appeared to have been cut by hand with a sharp object and were approximately one and one-half feet above the ground.” (Fontes II, supra, A159406, A162101.) Jane Doe 1 Incident “On May 25, 2019, Jane Doe 1 attended a festival in Napa County. That evening, she entered the fifth porta-potty unit on the left bank of handicap units. Because the unit was dark, she turned on her cell phone light. She held her phone in her mouth, pulled down her underwear, hiked up her dress, squatted above the toilet seat, and started to urinate. ‘[M]aybe two seconds’ later, she saw that her stream of urine ‘started to just spray everywhere.’ She looked down and felt something ‘tap’ or ‘poke[] her vagina.’ The first poke was on her perineum. She looked more closely and saw a hand facing palm up with the index finger and thumb pointed up and the remaining fingers curled into the palm. The hand was clean, well-groomed, and belonged to a white man. Jane Doe 1 felt a second tap on her perineum and then a finger was asserted into her vagina; she was able to describe the manner of insertion. She quickly tried to grab the hand but could not do so. Approximately seven seconds elapsed between when she felt her urine spray and when she tried to grab the hand. She yelled and exited the unit while urinating; she yelled again for help and said someone stuck his finger in her vagina. “Jane Doe 1 saw two security guards, but they were ‘dismissive’ of her complaint. She showed the security guards the area behind the porta-potty units, which at approximately two feet wide was sufficient for someone to

4 shimmy behind the units. She then showed one of the security guards the hole in the porta-potty unit she had used and the hole in the adjacent unit. Similar to the holes cut at the Alameda County fair, Jane Doe 1 described the hole in her unit as rectangular, approximately six by eight inches, with straight edges that were ‘meticulously cut,’ and approximately one and a half feet above the ground, while the hole in the adjacent unit was similar but cut only on three sides so that it operated as a flap. “. . . After further investigation, festival employees discovered four additional porta-potty units had been cut with holes, for a total of eight units. “Jane Doe 1 called 911 and Detective Brandt Keown responded to the call at the festival.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Chapman v. California
386 U.S. 18 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Cunningham v. California
549 U.S. 270 (Supreme Court, 2007)
People v. Duran
130 Cal. App. 3d 987 (California Court of Appeal, 1982)
People v. Esquibel
166 Cal. App. 4th 539 (California Court of Appeal, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Fontes CA1/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-fontes-ca13-calctapp-2025.