A woman has filed a lawsuit against the City of Coalinga, Coalinga-Huron Unified School District and a former police officer over an alleged 2012 sexual assault.

The plaintiff filed the case in January and says it stems from an alleged encounter with Juan Cisneros, a former officer with the Coalinga Police Department.

According to the complaint, Cisneros was assigned as a patrol officer at Coalinga High School in 2012. The plaintiff, who says she was 15 at the time, says Cisneros sexually assaulted her after school.

The plaintiff says she eventually reported the matter to an unnamed sergeant years later, though no action was taken, according to the complaint.

“Approximately one year following the report, that same sergeant contacted Plaintiff to inform her that multiple young girls had accused Defendant Juan Cisneros of sexual assault,” the lawsuit reads.

In August 2021, Cisneros was charged with kidnapping and having sex with a minor between 2012 and 2013. Less than six months later, the charges were dropped because the accuser was 16 years old during the alleged interaction instead of 14 or 15, as prosecutors believed.

A spokesperson for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said the statute of limitations in California is dependent on the age of the minor. Since the accuser was 16 years old at the time, the statute of limitations was shorter and had expired by the time the case reached the courts.

The district attorney’s office shared the case with federal authorities, as well, to see if federal statutes applied. Cisneros does not appear to have faced any federal charges.

The plaintiff’s attorney did not respond to The Bee’s inquiry of whether the plaintiff is the same woman who Cisneros was charged to have kidnapped and assaulted.

Cisneros is being sued for sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The City of Coalinga and Coalinga-Huron Unified are accused of being “vicariously liable.”

The plaintiff is requesting a jury trial.

According to court records, the City of Coalinga and Coalinga-Huron Unified have been served; however, there’s no paperwork showing that Cisneros has been served.

The city filed a response to the complaint on Feb. 26, denying the plaintiff’s allegations and arguing she isn’t entitled to damages.

A case management conference has been set for June 4.