Last Updated 19:46:26 UTC Saturday, October 3, 2020
US — San Francisco, California. A prominent transgender community activist was accused of forcefully entering a home and perpetrating a vicious rape.
At the time of the incident, Dana Contreras, who uses the name Dana McCallum professionally, was a senior engineer at Twitter. He had worked for the social media company since 2010, and was recognized by Business Insider as “one of the geniuses behind Twitter.”
He was also commonly acknowledged as “one of the most important gay or transgender people in the tech industry.” He often described himself as an “advocate for women and LGBT people.”
Mr McCallum, who is male but identifies as a woman, was separated from his wife and she was in the process of divorcing him when he arrived unexpectedly at her condo in Noe Valley. He raped his estranged wife in an alcohol-induced rage, she said. The victim’s three teen children and daughter’s teen friend were present in the home at the time of the violent attack.
Mr McCallum and his wife of over six years had gotten married before he decided that he is a woman and began to transition. The night before the attack, the wife served him with divorce papers.
The five felonies with which Mr McCallum was charged on January 29, 2014 were three counts of spousal rape, one count of false imprisonment and one count of domestic violence.
Mr McCallum initially pleaded not guilty, claiming through lawyer John Runfola that his accuser was motivated by money. “I’m just disgusted that … this is going on,” Mr Runfola proclaimed. “Dana is an employee [at Twitter] and is about to come into a large amount of money. … This whole thing is about money.”
In October 2014, Mr McCallum submitted a guilty plea to one count of Domestic Violence With Corporal Injury To Spouse, as well as to one count of false imprisonment.
For these misdemeanor pleas, Mr McCallum received a sentence of three years probation, four days in county jail, 25 hours of community service, counseling for substance abuse, 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling, and payment of some minor fees. He was also ordered to stay away from his wife.
With credit for the four days he had served while the trial was pending, Mr McCallum served no prison time following sentencing.
UPDATE 19:46:26 UTC Saturday, October 3, 2020
In 2020, it was revealed that Mr McCallum is now known as Dana Davidsen. The man who once faced the court for the brutal rape of a woman now works part-time in aviation, where he is able to teach young women how to fly.
Correction: A previous version incorrectly reported the month of guilty plea
Read more from other sources
Reuters
Twitter engineer, LGBT activist pleads guilty to domestic violence
LOS ANGELES, Oct 7 (Reuters) – A senior Twitter engineer hailed as one of the most important gay or transgender people in the tech industry was sentenced on Tuesday to three years probation after pleading guilty to false imprisonment and domestic violence charges, San Francisco prosecutors said.
SF Examiner
Transgender, women’s rights advocate and prominent Twitter engineer charged with rape
A prominent advocate for transgender and women’s rights in the tech world has been charged with raping her wife, The San Francisco Examiner has learned.
I can’t believe how light his sentence was. Geez, women don’t count at all.
No prison? Insane!
Interesting how trans activists constantly mimic, “That, literally, never happens!”
The problem was the plea bargain, not the sentence: the sentence was not inappropriate for the charges agreed to in the plea bargain — given the seriousness of the offense/his actions, such a reduction in charges via the plea bargain should never have been offered by the DA or accepted by the judge.
In general the US ‘justice’ system has been corrupted by the practice of offering plea bargains.
That’s as may be.
The fact is, I happen to agree with you about the practice of plea bargains, but the vast majority of those who read and comment here can’t reasonably be expected to express dismay about the specifics of the American legal system. The practice of allowing inappropriate plea bargains results in poor jurisprudence as exemplified by cases like this but it is frequently women and girls who bear the brunt of this.
We are rightfully enraged by the lack of time spent by sex offenders in prison and it is unreasonable to expect us to express anger at the vagaries of the U.S. legal system rather than the insidious upshot thereof. This is not a Law Journal.
Isn’t it interesting how Twitter has a deplatforming fetish when it comes to feminists who are critical of the transgender movement.
Now, I know why-this Dana McCallum was a senior engineer at that God forsaken place. He might not be there anymore, but Twitter still has an allegiance to him.
She let him in? How long was he transitioning before she decided to run. With a track record like this, he should be in politics.
How do you know she let him in? The children also dwelt at the house, and were present there the night their mother was raped. Anyone could have opened the door, and even opening the door does not mean he did not just barge his way in without invitation. In fact, he likely still had the key to the residence, and there was no need for anyone to let him in at all. You are really reaching here to imply that she deserved to be raped. Are you suggesting that a woman is required to spend her every waking moment expecting every man to be finding the means and opportunity to rape her, and carefully planning a way to escape from it? And that if she makes the slightest flaw in carrying out her escape plan, she deserves to have a penis forced into her like a weapon?
Sometimes people have low self-esteem or have concerns for their children, and remain in relationships that are toxic for them. That does not condone violence of any type against them.
Transgender is a mental disorder…just like liberalism.
I believe it is possible for us to elevate our level of discourse beyond posting very oversimplified statements that do not provide information, but merely inflame.
I think you are a fake & your brain is empty
Your commentary, like his, is an ad hominem attack and not conducive to dialogue and growth. What is the point of trading cruel insults? This is juvenile and divisive behavior that has led the nation into the shape it’s in. You conservatives and liberals need to do better and address one another as adults. I see you all over the internet calling each other Re-Pugs/Re-Thugs and Demon-Rats and it gives me a headache. Grow up.
Maybe he was mad that the Twitter didn’t change it’s name to Twatter.
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This pretty much explains what the deal is @twitter – doesn’t it? With people like this running the tech side of the company they have insider access to eg ban writers like Meghan Murphy and selectively bend enforcement of hate speech rules their way.
Shocking male entitlement to rape and then plead innocence… his money and maleness bought him privilege that Women never are allowed to have. The law and media platforms are run for and by men. SCUM manifesto has the best analysis of how human males of a certain type behave.
Diana, thank you for your tireless work on this website. You provide an invaluable resource, even though the fact it should be necessary in so-called modernity chills me to the core.
Why on Earth this man is allowed to work one-on-one with young women in a setting such as aviation I am not sure. I suppose the obfuscation of changing his last name (yet again!) to Davidsen has at least something to do with it, but it just goes to prove my contention that those guilty of sex offences should not be able to change their names.
I hope that he at least is on some form of database? Perhaps that explains the awkward expression on the face of the young woman on the link you provided? I certainly hope so…
How is he able to be in a job where he can teach women anything ?!
Rose – We need an AGP sex offender’s list so that these men can’t be within 1000 feet of or work with women….
I was going to say “Probably because he’s changed his name so often, besides which his new employers probably didn’t bother to research his history” – but honestly, it seems to me that nowadays most people hear the word “trans” then any common sense or basic level of judgement simply goes out the window.