Jew-hating San Francisco official accused of vile assault on woman as city struggles to oust him

A San Francisco official who’s already in trouble for antisemitic online rantings and allegedly abusive relationships with women faces even more explosive allegations that he gave drugs to a vulnerable woman and had sex with her.

William Monroe Palmer, the president of the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board who has been celebrated for his jail reform activism, still remains in his position despite growing calls from city officials for him to be removed.

In the latest incident, a young woman, 26, told the San Francisco Chronicle that she left her family’s home on June 30 with no money or cell hone after a dispute about her job at a strip club.

The woman, who has a history of involuntary psychiatric holds, was set to return home after spending two nights with a friend when she came upon some strangers in a public plaza and decided to smoke fentanyl with them.

That’s when Palmer allegedly spotted her, watching her from a red BMW convertible, the outlet reported. Palmer called her over and managed to get her inside the car, she said.

“He asked me if I wanted to do drugs with him like meth and fentanyl,” the woman claimed.

The pair went to his apartment and over the following five days, she allegedly smoked drugs and had sex with him. At one point, she was told she had to be resuscitated from an overdose. The drug use made her unsure in her decision-making, she said.

“I felt hesitant, but I took my clothes off because he told me to take my clothes off,” she said. “I felt very messed up, I couldn’t tell if I wanted to have sex or not.”

The woman never told Palmer “no,” she told to Chronicle, but said she was not sure if the sex was consensual.

Meanwhile, her mother reported her missing on July 3, panicking about her daughter’s whereabouts. Four days later, an unidentified man called the mother and said her daughter was at an art studio near Market Street.

The mom called the police, who found both her daughter and Palmer together. Officers handcuffed Palmer and placed the woman in a mental health hold, but he was eventually released.

Palmer later tried to visit the woman at San Francisco General Hospital using his official position, but was turned away. He reportedly even emailed the district attorney’s office that he was “deeply” concerned about how police had ended his “trauma-informed intervention” in the woman’s life.

According to Palmer, he said he took care of the woman. He spotted her and got her out of a situation she didn’t belong in, he said. He allegedly took her to acupuncture sessions, and Palmer said he gave her a drink that he claimed turned people into a “total different person.”

“I’m her life coach,” Palmer told the Chronicle. “I talked to her and told her the things that she needed to hear to snap out of the lifestyle she was in and to get into the life that she wants to be in.”

He refused to confirm whether he had sex or did drugs with her.

The latest allegations add to what is already a troubling string of accusations against Palmer. The Post reported that he freely ranted about Jews on social media while serving on multiple City Hall boards. He has also been accused by four women of abuse, and he claimed homelessness to get out of 97 parking tickets with fines of $9,743.

Palmer was appointed to the Sheriff’s Oversight Board in 2021 as part of a push to include people with “lived experience” to shape the jail system. He had served 31 years of a life sentence in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager.

Now, some San Francisco figures want to reverse his appointment.

“It’s unacceptable that someone who has engaged in this behavior for months, if not years, remains in a position of public trust,” Mayor Daniel Lurie told the Chronicle.

The city Board of Supervisors has the power to remove him through a process that requires multiple votes and a hearing. Supervisor Stephen Sherrill requested an investigation into whether Palmer committed misconduct and said the removal process must begin soon.

“This situation is unacceptable. This individual has repeatedly demonstrated that he is unfit to serve on a City commission or in any leadership capacity whatsoever,” Sherrill wrote on X.

However, he said the city requires an “absurd” process and he is in conversations about moving the investigation more quickly. He told The California Post in an interview that the removal process is hopefully “weeks away.” Sherrill called attention to a measure on the November ballot that would enable quicker removals without cause.

Palmer has ignored calls for his resignation and said he intends to serve until March 1, 2027, when his term ends.

“Allegations don’t remove people from the board,” Palmer said. “So go through the process and let the chips fall where they may.”

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