‘He didn’t stop’: Yosemite chef charged with sexually abusing teenage co-worker

Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673 in the U.S.

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A 36-year-old chef working for Yosemite Hospitality at Yosemite National Park’s Mountain Room fine dining restaurant has been charged by a federal grand jury with sexually abusing a 19-year-old co-worker.

Danavon Caine, a Jamaican citizen working on an H-2B international visa, was arrested July 31, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. He was charged on Aug. 13 with two counts of sexual abuse, according to federal court records.

The charges stem from a July 17 encounter between Caine and his co-worker, who also worked as a chef at the Mountain Room. Caine invited the co-worker to hang out after their work shifts at about 11:30 p.m., according to court documents, and having spent time with Caine before and thinking they were “cool,” she agreed.

They walked from the Garden Terrace Room at Yosemite Valley Lodge to Caine’s residence in the housing area at Yosemite Valley Lodge, then sat down on a cot in a grassy area outside and looked at the stars, court documents state. Mid-conversation about workplace issues, Caine allegedly shifted the conversation to sex. “And this entire time, I’m like, this guy’s my friend, we aren’t doing that stuff,” the 19-year-old told investigators. 

She went on to describe how her mind “went black” and she laid down as he took off her clothes and climbed on top of her, which she described as “may[be] … consensual at first.” 

When he started to perform oral sex, she repeatedly asked him to stop “maybe like four or five times” and was “physically pushing him, too,” she allegedly told investigators. “He didn’t stop,” she told investigators, according to court documents. 

Caine allegedly initiated sex without a condom, which he characterized to investigators as consensual. The teenager said she continued asking him to stop and trying to push him off. “Now I’m, like pushing him like much harder, with as much force as I can use,” she said. “And only then did he actually get up.”

Caine walked his co-worker home with his arm around her, she told investigators. She wanted him to stop touching her and leave her alone, and upon returning home, she started panicking, she told investigators. Sometime after 1 a.m., she walked to the house of a friend, who encouraged her to report what happened, according to court documents. 

Officers searched the grassy area and collected the teenager’s clothing from her residence to submit into evidence. The next night, on her way to Fresno for a sexual assault forensic exam, the teenager received a call from Caine, which she didn’t answer. Then he texted, “Hey what’s up,” and “did you tell a lie on me or something?” and “If you did please make it right because you know I wouldn’t harm you or anyone in anyway,” according to court documents.

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While waiting for the results of her exam, the teenager noticed a red mark on her neck, which an officer photographed. She later told investigators that Caine had “placed one of his hands on her throat and applied pressure with his hand and fingers to the side of her neck,” according to court documents. “… She thought Caine was going to strangle and kill her.”

If convicted on either of the two counts of sexual abuse, Caine faces up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Caine is at least the fourth worker for Yosemite Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark Corporation that manages lodgings, restaurants and gift shops, to be charged with sexually abusing or assaulting a co-worker in the past 10 years. 

In 2024, Yosemite Hospitality employee Nathan Baptista was indicted by a federal jury for aggravated sexual abuse against a fellow employee, whom he allegedly raped, beat and strangled. Baptista, 37, fled before the completion of his trial, and has not been seen since June of 2025. 

In 2022, Yosemite Hospitality employee Charles Porter was sentenced to 12 years and four months for attempted aggravated sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact and assault counts against a fellow employee. In 2016, Floyd Fowler pleaded guilty to felony abuse sexual contact against another male employee and was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

Yosemite Hospitality “increased criteria and standards of background checks” in 2025, according to its most recent assessment from the National Park Service, but its background check on Caine showed no records found in the United States, according to federal court records.

“The safety and well-being of our employees remain our highest priority, and we have zero tolerance for harassment of any kind,” Aramark spokesperson Chrissie Dwyer told SFGATE in an email. “We fully cooperated with authorities throughout their investigation, and the individual involved is no longer employed by our organization.”

SFGATE reached out to the National Park Service with questions but the agency does not comment on open criminal cases.