San Mateo County: Lawsuit cites ‘systematic failures’ in handling of serial child molester William Ayres

“Systematic failures” by the state and local government resulted in the sexual abuse in hundreds of young boys by an infamous San Mateo-based child psychiatrist who died in prison, a fiery lawsuit filed Monday claims.

The suit pits 13 plaintiffs, all victims of longtime Dr. William Ayres, against the county, the State of California and other entities. The plaintiffs were all minors at the times of their assaults. Ayres contracted with various government entities to see children as a psychological evaluator, including through the San Mateo County juvenile justice system and at Hillcrest Juvenile Hall.

He was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013 after he pled no contest to eight felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child. Prosecutors at the time said they knew of at least 50 other victims of Ayres, who was accused of molesting and raping young boys in the 1980s and 1990s.

Ayers died in prison of natural causes in 2016, three years into his eight-year sentence. He was 84.

“We look forward to holding Defendants accountable for their ratification and cover-up of Dr. Ayres’ long history of sexually abusing little boys at Hillcrest,” said Sandra Ribera Speed, the lawyer representing the 13 victims.

The complaint seeks financial damages on six causes of action, including sexual battery, gender violence, negligence, negligent supervision, negligent retention and negligent failure to train, warn or educate.

A spokesperson for San Mateo County declined to comment on the substance of active litigation, but added that “Dr. Ayres was prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office for appalling crimes occurring in the 80s and 90s and was appropriately convicted and sentenced.”

Prosecutors revealed heinous details of Ayres’ interactions with the victims in a professional setting. According to the suit, Ayres arrived in San Mateo in 1963 after he abruptly left his previous practice in Boston, where he had a reputation for “unorthodox” physical components of his psychiatric evaluations of young boys.

Whispers of Ayres’ alleged sexual abuse of young patients rapidly spread and became “well-known” throughout the San Mateo medical community, according to the suit. He quickly received government contracts for his psychiatric work because he was often the lowest bidder, and his work with juvenile delinquents ensured he’d have a stream of victims to pick from, the suit claims.

The suit describes the 13 plaintiffs’ experiences with Ayers, going into graphic detail about the encounters. Prosecutors wrote that the plaintiffs were often told to strip completely naked during psychiatric evaluations while Ayres fondled their naked genitals, on several occasions describing events where oral sex or anal penetration was involved.

Ayres threatened young victims with violence and his power as psychiatric evaluator on more than one occasion, the suit alleges. He told one victim that he would make his report “so one-sided that they would lock him up and throw away the key” if the defendant told anyone about the abuse.

The suit includes accusations that Ayres’ victims came forward to San Mateo County prosecutors with stories about those inappropriate interactions, but prosecutors continued to send patients to him.

Marta Diaz, a former prosecutor that worked on the San Mateo District Attorney’s sexual assault team from 1984-1986, is named as a defendant in the suit for her role in dismissing abuse allegations from victims. The plaihtiff’s attorneys argue that even after a victim’s attorney reported the abuse their client received from Ayres, Diaz said he “could never have molested” the victim. The suit claims that Diaz continued to send young boys to Ayres for evaluations for an additional 14 years as a prosecutor and later a Juvenile Judge for the San Mateo Superior Court.

In 2005, the suit claims, Bay Area media outlets reported that a source within the DA’s Office, later revealed to be current San Mateo County DA Stephen Wagstaffe, said that Diaz was “actively trying” to stop police investigations of Ayres’ sex crimes due to their friendship.

In 2008, an investigation into Diaz’s alleged interference was launched by Mariah Baird, an investigator for the California Commission on Judicial Performance. The suit alleges that Wagstaffe declined to cooperate with Baird, despite his ability to corroborate the allegations of interference against Diaz.

As Ayres’ abuse case moved to trial, Wagstaffe appointed a relatively new prosecutor to lead the case, which prosecutors called a “surprising move” in the suit. While the criminal trial took place in June 2009, Wagstaffe made what the suit called an “inexplicable departure” from his norm when he failed to attend any portion of the trial and didn’t offer assistance to the prosecutor in charge of the case.

The initial trial was declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked. Ayres was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013.

Wagstaffe shared a statement with the Bay Area News Group regarding the case: “In the Ayres case, my office worked with San Mateo Police Department closely once the allegations of child abuse by Ayres came to light. We put together a strong case to show the abuse by Ayres and we prosecuted him to the full extent of the law. We sent him to state prison and successfully opposed his parole when he sought an early release..” He declined any further comment, citing the ongoing litigation and referring questions to the county attorney.