Morro Bay fish market owner pleads not guilty to 6 felonies — including child porn

A prominent Morro Bay business owner has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges, including possession of child pornography.

The San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office charged Giovanni DeGarimore, of Giovanni’s Fish Market, with six felonies on Nov. 28: three possession of an assault weapon charges, one possession of a short barrel shotgun charge, one charge of carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle and one charge of possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, DeGarimore, 50, was arrested by Atascadero police in November and posted a $20,000 bail on Nov. 14.

According to the charge sheet, an assault rifle was found in DeGarimore’s Atascadero residence on Sept. 1, 2022. Two more assault rifles were found more than a year later on Nov. 14 — one in his Atascadero home and the other in his Bradley residence. A short-barrel shotgun was also found at his Atascadero home and a loaded handgun was found in his car’s center console on that same day, according to the charge sheet.

The child porn charge stems from some time between September 2022 and Nov. 14, the charge document shows. It alleges DeGarimore knew the person engaging in and simulating sexual conduct was under the age of 18.

DeGarimore pleaded not guilty to the charges on Feb. 5.

Ilan Funke-Bilu, DeGarimore’s defense attorney, told The Tribune in an emailed statement that he is “convinced Giovanni will be vindicated.”

“Social media, media, community scuttlebutt and pre-trial speculations are not the forums where justice presides,” he said. He added that he supports the right to a free press as much as he supports his client’s right to a fair trial before an impartial jury.

“I would love to now disclose the evidence that supports my client’s innocence, but then I would be guilty of trying to bias a prospective jury,” Funke-Bilu said. “Detachment and impartiality are the wellspring of a fair trial. To ensure it, let’s not rush to judgment.”

Giovanni’s Fish Market sued 4 times for alleged sexual harassment, court documents show

Meanwhile, DeGarimore and his business have faced a number of legal challenges in recent years.

A June 2021 lawsuit against Giovanni’s Fish Market alleged a 14-year-old girl was inappropriately touched by a male cook in 2018. It was the girl’s first job, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleged the cook made repeated and ongoing inappropriate physical contact with the teen “in full view of other employees.”

When the teen “worked up the courage to ask for help,” DeGarimore characterized it as “he said, she said” and “implied that (the cook’s) reputation was more important than the (14-year-old’s) safety,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the teen had to seek counseling for sexual assault victims because she was so emotionally impacted by the alleged harassment and her supervisor’s “refusal to believe her and intervene on her account.”

Another lawsuit filed in June 2021 alleged Giovanni’s Fish Market retaliated against a 17-year-old female employee after her older sister, who started working at the market in 2018, made a sexual harassment complaint against one of her supervisors in 2020.

The lawsuit alleged the 17-year-old girl was forced to quit because of her employer’s change in attitude toward her and observing her sister’s sexual harassment.

A third June 2021 lawsuit alleged a different 17-year-old was sexually harassed by an adult male colleague through inappropriate physical contact and unwanted sexual advances beginning in July 2020.

The lawsuit alleged her supervisors failed to intervene for four months “despite near daily occurrences of the harassing conduct in full view of other employees and a closed-circuit video surveillance system.”

The teen sought help from Giovanni’s Fish Market’s chief operations officer and the Morro Bay Police Department, the lawsuit said, but was “constructively terminated” in October 2020.

All three June 2021 lawsuits were settled for undisclosed amounts in January 2022, court records show.

Finally, according to a lawsuit filed in July 2022, a former female cashier at Giovanni’s Fish Market was “forced to quit” after six months on the job because of “severe and pervasive sexual harassment” that DeGarimore allegedly failed to remedy.

The woman’s supervisor began harassing her two weeks after she started her job, the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit described the harassment as “a relentless campaign of unwanted sexual and romantic advances” that created a hostile work environment.

Rather than remedying the situation, the lawsuit alleged DeGarimore also made “lewd and obscene” comments toward the woman and asked her if she had sexual relations with her supervisor and belittled her to her colleagues. The woman alleged her supervisor distributed photos of her and believed DeGarimore viewed the photos.

The woman said she reported the harassment but no action was taken, the lawsuit said. She also alleged Giovanni’s Fish Market failed to pay overtime and denied breaks.

The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount in November 2022. It is in the process of being dismissed.

DeGarimore’s next court hearing is scheduled for March 5.