A registered sex offender was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of battery and committing a hate crime after shouting homophobic slurs at members of the Sonoma County Pride Bowling League during their weekly league night in Rohnert Park.
Vincent Charles Belfiore, 64, was taken into custody outside Double Decker Lanes on Golf Course Drive, according to Lt. Andrew Smith of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.
Police said Belfiore confronted league members just before 9:30 p.m. Among them was league president Christopher Mahurin, a lieutenant with the Santa Rosa Police Department, who said Belfiore directed numerous slurs at him before being asked to leave.
“I immediately told him it’s time to leave,” Mahurin told The Press Democrat. “A lot of our bowlers are pretty frightened someone would come in and say slurs.”
The bowling league, founded in 2014, has about 130 members. Roughly half were present when the confrontation unfolded. Several stepped in to guide Belfiore toward the exit, where he allegedly punched one member in the chest, causing a minor injury, Mahurin said.
The incident lasted about five minutes before Belfiore drove away. Belfiore told officers he had been at the bowling alley to visit someone who was bowling, Smith said.
Belfiore was arrested shortly afterward. He was not listed in jail records as of Wednesday afternoon, and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office had not yet filed charges.
According to California’s Megan’s Law database of registered sex offenders, Belfiore is a Cloverdale resident convicted of sexual battery in 1983. Sonoma County court records show multiple felony and misdemeanor cases dating back to 1992, including a 2014 drug-related conviction.
Under California law, a hate crime is a criminal act motivated, at least in part, by bias against a protected characteristic, including sexual orientation. If prosecutors allege and prove a hate-crime enhancement, a state provision allows an added one to three years in prison for a felony.
On Wednesday, Mahurin posted a statement on the league’s Facebook page reaffirming its commitment to community and inclusion.
“The Sonoma County Pride Bowling League stands as a visible, unapologetic reminder that we belong,” he wrote. “That love, inclusion, and solidarity are stronger than any act of hate.”
He said the league would continue meeting weekly and supporting one another, calling members’ response to the incident a reflection of their strength and unity.