Regional Business Magazine Founder Charged with Sex Crimes

California publisher accused of assault on 16-year-old girl, older woman.

By Dylan Stableford
04/22/2008

A 42-year-old California man who recently launched a local business magazine stands accused of sexually assaulting two women—one a 16-year-old—in a pair of separate incidents last year.

Sunny Pappu Kavil, who launched the 36-page startup Gavilan Post earlier this month, faces six counts of sex crimes-two counts of sexual battery with restraint, child molesting and false imprisonment by violence.

Kavil has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is out on $100,000 bail. He appeared in Monterey County court this week for a preliminary hearing. He's due in court again on May 15.

According to court documents obtained by the Gilroy Dispatch, Kavil allegedly assaulted the then-16-year-old girl in May 2007 at Sunnyline Clothing, a Pacific Grove, California store owned by Kavil. The girl had been employed at the store. Another former employee-a "woman over 50," according to the documents-came forward a month later, alleging Kavil had assaulted her in her home.

The first issue of the magazine features Al Pinheiro, the town's mayor, on its cover. "If I had known this beforehand, I probably would have been very cautious to get involved with somebody that has something like this hanging over their head," Pinheiro told the paper. "If somebody comes and asks me for an interview, I don't normally go into a background review."

"I was hoping it was going to be a very positive thing for Gilroy to have another magazine," Pinheiro said. "[The charges against Kavil] just puts a cloud over it."