SANTA CRUZ — A judge this week held a prominent Aptos real estate broker to answer on three felony rape-related charges.
Frank DeBernardo, CEO and broker of the real estate agency the DeBernardo Team in Capitola, was charged in August 2022 with allegedly raping an unconscious woman, identified as “Jane Doe” in court documents, after a party at his family’s home in November 2021. The charge of threatening a witness was related to a subsequent alleged December 2021 incident, according to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney Office’s complaint filing.
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Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel determined there was sufficient evidence to proceed to trial after a lengthy six-day preliminary hearing that concluded Tuesday. According to minutes of the hearing, the defense team for DeBernardo called Jane Doe to the stand, a direct examination that prosecutor Michael Mahan objected to and Siegel eventually terminated, over the defense’s objection, Tuesday. The woman was put on the witness stand to prove that she was not a credible witness, an assertion with which Siegel disagreed.
The 47-year-old DeBernardo, who was profiled in a July 22, 2022, cover story for Top Agent Magazine: California Edition, shares a name with but is distinct from a former Soquel High School softball coach. The defendant is listed as CEO of PORTFOLIŌ Real Estate, where he is said to have 20 years of experience as a real estate investor and broker and has produced “over $250 million in real estate sales since 1998” with a primary focus on luxury properties in Santa Cruz.
A related civil lawsuit Doe filed against DeBernardo is trailing the criminal case. Attorneys in the criminal case are due back in court March 13 for arraignment on the information.
