A former Orange County prosecutor claimed she was sexually harassed by her superiors while in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and retaliated by her superiors, according to a recent lawsuit.
The legal lawsuit filed in the Orange County Superior Court last week is the latest in a series of workplace lawsuits filed against Dist. Atti. Todd Spitzer and his office, some of whom have settled for millions of dollars, have made a court decision on Spitzer and his staff.
Like previous lawsuits, recent lawsuits alleged retribution environments within the Orange County Attorney’s Office.
The former prosecutor, identified as Jane Doe in court documents, said she had obtained unnecessary progress and sexually suggestive texts in her supervisor and was passed on to promotion, and she was unfairly the subject of a disciplinary investigation when she submitted the complaint to the HR department. The former deputy district attorney also claimed that she initially decided not to report her treatment out of concern for her goals.
“She is expected to remain silent, avoid attracting attention, endure abuse or face retaliatory punishment,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges that Doe’s supervisor Jess Rodriguez sent her unnecessary, sexually suggestive texts and frequently went into her office to discuss his sex life and ask her about her sex life.
In one example, Doe accused Rodriguez of sending her a message telling her: “I need to watch you bend over to the projector during a good time.”
According to the lawsuit, the alleged sexual harassment began in April 2023. In another case, Rodriguez allegedly texted her and asked her what she would wear the next day.
“Gimme has some sweet dreams tonight,” the lawsuit said.
Rodriguez did not respond to a request for comment regarding the allegations.
Kimberly Edds, a spokesman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, said the office was first aware of the allegations in March when it received a government claim from Jane Doe, outlining the allegations. Government claims are often pioneers of litigation.
Eders said Rodriguez was placed on administrative leave in March and the District Attorney’s Office investigated allegations of sexual harassment with external agencies.
The investigation is still awaiting, she said.
Rodriguez resigned on June 18.
The lawsuit also accused the former Orange County prosecutor of facing “hostility and disparity” at the hands of a former supervisory deputy. Atti. Richard Zimmer and former senior deputy. Atti. Rebecca Reed.
Zimmer, now a judge in the Orange County Superior Court, failed to respond to a request for comment by a court spokesperson.
Reed, who left the district attorney’s office on March 28, did not respond to a request for comment.
Tim Gauthier, a lawyer representing Jane Doe, told The Times that some of the alleged incidents occurred during meetings with line prosecutors and supervisors, often referred to as “Turkish Shooting.” Prosecutors discussed their pending cases during the meeting, Goudill said.
He said his client was often deprived of the ability to reach a plea deal, forcing her to prosecute more difficult cases and increase her workload to hear more cases.
His client contacted HR on August 7, 2024 and the county’s Equal Employment Opportunity Visit Office on August 27, 2024.
The lawsuit says that while her complaint stayed on August 21, she was told she was the subject of a “investigation meeting” and that research alleges she “misrepresented the victim’s harm,” Gauthier said.
“We suspect they are combing everything with a fine-toothed comb to find anything to nail it after the fact,” Gaudill said, adding that his client was cleared of the wrongdoing.
In January, the county’s Equal Job Opportunity Visit Office determined that the complaints of DOE were unfounded.
Jane Doe left the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in September 2024 but was still practicing, he was hesitant to open up or file a complaint with the Department of Human Resources, partly because of how other prosecutors were treated in another high-profile case. The case involved Gary Logalbo, the now-dead former Supreme Prosecutor and best man at Spitzer’s wedding.
Logalbo was accused of sexual harassment by several female prosecutors, eventually supported by an internal investigation, according to multiple lawsuits filed against the county and district attorney’s office.
The victims of harassment also claimed that they were retaliated for raising concerns. Another internal investigation also determined that when the District Attorney’s Office issued an internal investigation into sexual harassment against Logalbo, the “Hostile and Offensive” bill was adopted and somehow described the victims they could easily identify among office staff.
The DOE lawsuit alleges that among the identified persons is Jane Doe, who was described as an “Asian female lawyer.”
Eders said the District Attorney’s Office has worked with the county’s EEO office, supervisory board and the county’s human resources department since the Logalbo investigation to increase the frequency of harassment training for employees and supervisors.
The training includes notifying employees of multiple available venues to report any concerns about harassment, she said.
Gauthier said in an interview that his client was reluctant to take legal action in the Logalbo case.
“The manager told her, ‘OK, stay away from this, you don’t want to be a part of it,'” said Gauss. “From those experiences, she’s getting any report of sexual harassment is a bad career decision and can lead to abuse. ”
Orange County still faces multiple lawsuits involving logalbo charges and others, opposing the District Attorney’s Office, involving harassment and intimidation.
In June, a jury in San Diego awarded a former senior female prosecutor Tracy Miller, $3 million loss. Miller claimed she tried to cover up other prosecutors allegedly harassed by Logalbo and was targeted after concerns about Spitzer’s behavior.
In September 2024, the county also filed a lawsuit against A Former Investigator in the DA Officehe claimed in the lawsuit that Spitzer and other senior officials investigated allegations of money laundering and extortion involving Spitzer.
Investigator Damon Tucker claims he was fired and aimed. The county paid $2 million to resolve the lawsuit.
