Attorney sentenced for sexual battery on minors at yacht club in West Sacramento
WEST SACRAMENTO — An attorney was sentenced to 70 days in jail and ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years for committing sexual battery on two minors in West Sacramento, officials said Wednesday.
Matthew Bert Smith, 59, was convicted back on April 15, 2024, of two counts of sexual battery and one count of battery, the Yolo County District Attorney's Office said.
Bert committed the acts at the Sacramento Yacht Club in West Sacramento on January 22, 2022. A former commodore of the club, he touched the buttocks of two girls—ages 15 and 16—who were a part of the club's gallery staff, prosecutors said. The one count of battery was for Bert grabbing the arm of a man working at the gallery.
Officers responded that day to the yacht club when they received a report of the girls' fathers confronting Smith about what had happened. Smith was then arrested, and his trial began more than two years later on April 8, 2024.
Smith, who is currently inactive with the California State Bar, was a practicing family law attorney when he committed the offenses. He has also since resigned from the Yacht Club.
