Police arrested a physical education teacher this afternoon on an arrest warrant charging him with sexually assaulting a sixth-grade female student 20 years ago.
In late January 2022, administrators from the Palo Alto Unified School District contacted the Police Department after receiving an e-mail reporting that a current physical education teacher at Greene Middle School had sexually assaulted an 11-year-old female student in 2001. Detectives launched an investigation, working in collaboration with district officials. District administrators immediately placed the teacher on administrative leave.
The investigation revealed that the victim, now in her thirties, had been sexually assaulted by her physical education teacher in the locker room at the former Jordan Middle School (currently known as Greene Middle School) at 750 North California Avenue while she was in sixth grade (the 2001-2002 school year). The assault occurred during the lunch hour.
Detectives presented the completed investigation to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, who filed one felony charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child against the suspect on June 13. A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge signed a warrant for his arrest on June 14.
On the afternoon of June 15, the suspect self-surrendered at the Palo Alto Police Department without incident. Police booked the suspect, 55-year-old Peter Michael Colombo of Redwood City, into the Santa Clara County Main Jail pursuant to the arrest warrant. His booking photo is available at www.cityofpaloalto.org/PAPDnews.
Police are not aware of any additional victims at this time. Detectives encourage anyone who may have been victimized to contact the Palo Alto Police Department. Anyone with information about this incident or this suspect is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to [email protected] or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
