Alexandra Veitschegger, media relations manager for Attorney General Rob Bonta, contacted Valley Voice editor-publisher Catherine Doe on Tuesday, November 10. She was seeking added information about the criminal complaint, who sent it and how it was delivered. Veitschegger said the public response has been significant.
“She told me her email has been blowing up all morning,” Doe said.
Details of allegations from three women – two of whom were children at the time of the alleged assaults – were published by the Valley Voice on Thursday, November 5. The article includes details from a criminal complaint sent to the DOJ on August 11 by a former high-ranking officer of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO), as well as interviews with two of the three alleged victims. Several other media outlets have since reported on the allegations. The Valley Voice confirmed the report had been delivered by certified mail to the DOJ prior to publication.
The DOJ, the Fresno Bee reported Tuesday, November 10, refused to comment on whether it is actively investigating the allegations against Boudreaux. They cited a need to project “integrity” of “potential or ongoing investigations.”
Boudreaux has denied the allegations, some of which were documented in a 1991 Tulare County Department of Public Social Services investigation. Boudreaux, who was 24 and a TCSO deputy when the report was issued, is named as the suspected attacker.
In statements to the press, Boudreaux said he also believes there is a connection between the timing of the story becoming public and a recent TCSO operation. A months-long investigation that led to several narcotics arrests in Kings and Tulare counties was publicized by the TCSO on November 9.
“The claim arrives on the heels of another successful and major operation that secured the arrest of a number of drug trafficking affiliates,” Boudreaux said in a statement, according to reporting by the Porterville Recorder. “The timing is not a coincidence.”
Boudreaux did not provide details regarding the alleged connection between the Valley Voice article and the TCSO operation or say who is involved in the alleged conspiracy. Neither did he explain how his alleged acts of sexual abuse and the recent drug bust are related to each other. It is unclear what any such alleged conspirators would hope to accomplish.
The investigation that resulted in the Valley Voice’s original article regarding the allegations of serial sexual assault by Boudreaux began in May, seven months prior to publication.