Sacramento aide touched teen girl and showed youth porn images, records show
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- Investigation found supervisor failed to report incidents and coerced staff.
- City fired the supervisor in June 2025; police notified but no charges.
- City records show a senior aide exposed youth to pornography and touched a 13-year-old.
A Sacramento youth coordinator was fired earlier this year after a city investigation concluded that she failed to report three allegations of misconduct by a recreation aide, including that he rubbed his genitals on a 13-year-old girl.
The allegations, nearly all of which were upheld by the city, were obtained by The Sacramento Bee through a public records act request. They detail a four-month span in 2023 and 2024 during which a senior recreation aide exposed youth to pornographic images, used sexist and racist language and inappropriately touched a teen girl. Another allegation in the documents states he “swiped” at a staff member’s vagina. All the misconduct occurred at the Oak Park Community Center.
The aide’s full name does not appear in the records. The disciplinary documents instead focus on the June 2025 termination of his then-supervisor Marcisha Holmes, a former programs coordinator in the city’s Youth, Parks and Community Enrichment Department. A city spokesperson did not provide the name or age of the aide when asked, but said he is no longer employed and police were notified.
A Sacramento Police spokesperson said officers investigated the reports of inappropriate touching at the community center. The case was forwarded to the district attorney’s office which declined to file charges based “on the totality of the facts and circumstances,” the office said in a statement last week. Neither agency provided the suspect’s name.
Termination appealed
Holmes, who is appealing the termination, said she was wrongfully fired and denied all the sustained allegations against her. Holmes said she reported any misconduct brought to her immediately to her supervisor Kyle Escobar, who could not be reached for comment. Escobar resigned in April, according to a city spokesperson.
“Just imagine working there for so many years for someone to tear my character down — or try to tear it because nobody can tear me down, only God, — so try to tear my character down, make false perceptions about me and then come up with a narrative that I did not report,” Holmes said of her termination.
Holmes had worked at the city since September 2014. The investigation concluded she did not meet her legal obligations as a mandated reporter and failed to report misconduct repeatedly.
The records state that the first failure to report by Holmes occurred “sometime around” November or December 2023, after the recreation aide connected his laptop to a TV to play Tim Burton’s “A Nightmare Before Christmas” for youth.
When the movie ended, the aide unplugged his laptop from the TV but left the device open. Youth and staff soon saw an advertisement for pornography, which included images of naked men and women. The aide also scrolled through the images, according to the records.
A staff member reported the incident to Holmes within 30 minutes, per the disciplinary documents. Holmes later asked the aide to refrain from using his personal laptop in the workplace, but failed to address the youth exposure to pornographic images, the records state.
The investigation said Holmes failed to take the appropriate actions, including not reporting to her supervisor, human resources or the Equal Employment Opportunity Office. Holmes’ supervisor learned weeks later through another staff member, according to the records.
Holmes disputed this claim and said she reported the incident to Escobar that same day.
Two others reported problems
The second sustained allegation stems from January 2024, when two recreation aides who were sisters submitted a resignation letter. In the letter, the aides cited the senior recreation aide’s behavior that involved racism, homophobia, body shaming, transphobia and self-harm, according to the disciplinary documents. Their resignation followed frustration over prior complaints that went unaddressed, the aides later told investigators.
Holmes met with the sisters after reviewing the letter. The details of the meeting differ based on accounts of those involved.
The two aides recalled Holmes trying to persuade them to withdraw their resignation letter and remain employed in their positions, the records state. They reported Holmes making a remark along the lines of: “You two are sweet girls. I know you probably don’t know this, but if I submit this letter, it’s going to have to be reported and then an investigation’s going to be had and I’m going to have to fight for my job.”
Holmes rebutted their recollection of the meeting and denied knowing that the complaints in the letter involved the senior recreation aide in her interview with the investigators and to The Bee earlier this month.
“I never forced them to stay there so that was false, and it kind of hurt, because I would never do that to none of my staff,” Holmes said. “That’s not even in my character at all whatsoever.”
Investigators concluded the opposite, writing Holmes met with the aides with the intent to “coerce them” and “suppress their claims.” The records also state she knew the complaints referred to the senior recreation aide because he was the only employee in that position at the Oak Park Community Center.
Third case allegedly not reported
The final sustained complaint against Holmes is rooted in her “failure” to report the allegation that the senior recreation aide touched a 13-year-old girl in March 2024 during a teen event tied to NCAA basketball games, the records state. Aides told investigators that the minor described the incident on the same day it occurred.
The minor reported that, while alone in a room with the senior recreation aide, she tried to get a snack because she was hungry. The aide held the snack above his head and the minor tried to reach for it. He then pressed against her and rubbed his genitals on her, according to records.
“He kept pushing up on...and rubbing up on her… She felt his thing on her leg,” one of the aides said in her interview with investigators.
Holmes learned of the alleged misconduct within hours, but she did not report it to her “chain of command,” the disciplinary documents state. Instead, Holmes attempted her own investigation — including reviewing video footage — over the following weeks. A program supervisor recalled seeing Holmes looking at the footage, but said she never explained what she was investigating.
About a week after the incident, the girl’s mother messaged Holmes expressing concern for her daughter, that the senior recreation aide had a history of being “too touchy” with girls in the youth program and to consider stopping him from working with the children, according to text messages in the records.
Holmes responded that she was investigating the situation. Holmes then recommended that the girl stay away from the center in the meantime.
The mother later questioned why her daughter was removed, while the senior recreation aide continued working with “all the young girls,” according to the text messages.
“I thought it was extremely backwards and that if he was being investigated that he should not have access to any other children, not just mine being told not to come back for her safety,” the mother told investigators.
The investigation concluded that Holmes’ directive to the mother amounted to a “clear act of retaliation,” under EEO policy.
In Holmes’ interviews with investigators, she initially denied learning of the incident within hours — a statement she amended after presented with evidence. When asked why she never formally reported it, Holmes told investigators: “I don’t know why... know it sucks. I’m going to tell the truth regardless, because now I’m recalling that part as I see it. I can’t pinpoint what in the world I did for that week.”
Payden Martin, a representative for the union, said earlier this month that Holmes’ appeal is in process and he could not discuss pending litigation. Local 39 is the city’s largest labor union and represents more than 1,700 workers.
