(Woodland, CA) – May 29, 2024 – On May 29, 2024, 59-year-old attorney Matthew Bert Smith was sentenced following his April 15, 2024, conviction by a Yolo County jury of two counts of sexual battery and one count of battery. The offenses occurred at the Sacramento Yacht Club, located in West Sacramento, on January 22, 2022. Mr. Smith, a former Commodore of the club, touched the buttocks of two females, ages 16 and 15, who were working as galley staff at the club. Mr. Smith was also convicted of battery committed by grabbing the arm of a male member of the galley staff.
Officers from the West Sacramento Police Department were dispatched to the Yacht Club for a report of an altercation after the fathers of the two female victims confronted Mr. Smith. Officers investigated and arrested Mr. Smith, who was practicing as a family law attorney in the City of West Sacramento at the time of the incident. Smith has since resigned from the Yacht Club and is in “Inactive” status with the State Bar of California. Mr. Smith currently lives on his boat outside of the United States.
The trial took place before Judge Tom M. Dyer and was prosecuted by Frits van der Hoek, a supervising Deputy District Attorney with the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.
The trial began on April 8, 2024, and the jury heard evidence from galley staff members and the victims of three other incidents of reported sexual assault by Mr. Smith, which had gone unreported until the investigation in this case. The jury reached its guilty verdicts on April 15, 2024, after about three and a half hours of deliberation.
Mr. Smith was sentenced to 70 days in the county jail and will be required to register as a sex offender for the next ten years.
District Attorney Jeff Reisig praised the West Sacramento Police Department for their thorough investigation and the Sacramento Yacht Club for their assistance throughout the case. “Our office will continue to prosecute offenders regardless of their power, financial position, or status in the community. There is no tolerance for sexual assault and perpetrators should expect to be aggressively prosecuted.”
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