A decide discovered Montclair Councilman Ben Lopez civilly chargeable for sexual harassment this week for subjecting two present male metropolis staff to repeated undesirable sexual advances, in keeping with court docket paperwork and interviews.
However regardless of repeated calls from metropolis leaders and residents for his resignation, Lopez has given no indication he plans to step down. His choice to stay on the Metropolis Council has already saddled the Pomona Valley neighborhood with a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} in insurance coverage prices, metropolis officers say, and compounded the toll on the 2 staff — each of whom nonetheless work at Metropolis Corridor.
“It seems like we’re again in sq. one,” mentioned one plaintiff, Edmund Garcia. “I nonetheless continuously really feel like I’ve to observe my again.”
Lopez has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and continued to take action even after the ruling.
“I’ve maintained my innocence. I don’t assume the town ought to have been dragged into this continuing in any respect,” he mentioned throughout a council assembly Monday. Lopez didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark from The Instances this week.
Solely Montclair voters have the ability to strip Lopez of his place, in keeping with Brian Hannemann, an lawyer who represented Garcia and his co-plaintiff, Mikey Fuentes. As a result of the case was tried in civil court docket, Lopez doesn’t meet the authorized threshold to be robotically faraway from the council — which might require him to be convicted of a felony felony.
“In another office, a supervisor discovered chargeable for this conduct can be fired instantly,” Hannemann mentioned. “However as a result of he’s an elected official, the victims nonetheless should see him wield energy. That’s the injustice right here.”
Within the choice launched Monday, San Bernardino County Superior Courtroom Choose Kory Mathewson concluded that Lopez violated California’s Honest Employment and Housing Act by repeatedly subjecting Garcia and Fuentes to undesirable sexual advances, together with anonymously sending specific pictures and messages on relationship apps.
The court docket discovered Lopez liable not just for sexual harassment but in addition for fraud, oppression and malice, a excessive authorized customary that allowed for punitive damages. Every plaintiff was awarded $488,000, with Lopez additionally ordered to reimburse the town of Montclair for its settlement prices and authorized charges.
The lawsuit has already value Montclair taxpayers greater than $950,000, in keeping with Metropolis Supervisor Edward Starr, who mentioned Lopez’s refusal to resign has uncovered the town to continued legal responsibility, probably to the tune of $500,000 in extra annual insurance coverage prices. These mixed prices would characterize 3.7% of Montclair’s total basic fund finances of $39.5 million for the present fiscal yr.
“That’s cash that ought to have gone to our parks, our police, our roads, however was wasted on the actions of 1 man,” mentioned resident Alice Garcia, Edmund’s mom, at a council assembly Monday. “Mr. Lopez, you might have value this metropolis our fame. You’ve value the taxpayers over half 1,000,000 {dollars}, and you’ve got value my household our peace of thoughts.”
In keeping with court docket findings, Lopez used pretend names like “Looking2Suck,” and “Down2Play” on relationship apps and sought out Garcia, an IT supervisor with the town, despite the fact that he was a direct subordinate.
In messages, he obscured his face, despatched graphic sexual photos and repeatedly invited Garcia to interact in nameless intercourse, which he refused.
“If we might do that completely anonymously between us. Know a means we might? The place we didn’t should see one another’s face in any respect the primary time? Go away the mystique and get the deed executed sort factor,” Lopez wrote in messages detailed in court docket information.
However in later messages, Lopez allegedly despatched {a photograph} of his face. Garcia advised The Instances he felt disturbed and feared the communications may very well be used to control or blackmail him.
Lopez has maintained he was hacked or impersonated on-line, a protection Mathewson rejected given the proof, together with monetary information tied to the accounts concerned.
Fuentes, the town’s director of financial improvement and housing, testified that Lopez subjected him to undesirable feedback about his look, sexuality and private life, culminating in a two-hour lunch assembly that Fuentes believed was work-related, however as an alternative devolved into probing questions on his sexuality.
Each males reported Lopez to metropolis management in 2021. A 3rd-party investigator retained by the town later substantiated their allegations and located Lopez not credible, in keeping with the court docket’s findings.
The Metropolis Council formally censured Lopez in 2022, barred him from committee appointments and restricted his interactions with metropolis employees exterior of conferences. He additionally might not enter most metropolis amenities, restrictions that Starr mentioned are troublesome to implement and have already disrupted operations.
Below California regulation, the town has restricted authority for additional self-discipline, Mayor John Dutrey mentioned at a Dec. 15 council assembly, the place he and different board members urged Lopez to resign and “save the town additional embarrassment.”
“However that’s unlikely,” Dutrey mentioned.
Lopez has been on the council since 2020 and was reelected to a second time period in 2024.
Garcia and Fuentes each stay employed by the town, however mentioned the case has altered their day-to-day work lives. Fuentes now not attends council conferences in particular person, despite the fact that they’re a main job duty. Each males mentioned they’ve prevented public occasions the place Lopez might seem, in keeping with interviews and transcripts.
“I grew up in Montclair,” Garcia mentioned. “I used to be already somebody that beloved speaking to the general public, that was at all times on the occasions, council conferences and grand openings for companies. I used to be at all times there assembly new individuals and making an attempt to deliver a cheerful face. … Now I can’t try this.”
The ruling follows years of controversy surrounding Lopez, who beforehand lobbied towards homosexual marriage and different points by means of the Conventional Values Coalition, a now-defunct conservative Christian group that the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group.
“I can’t management what individuals consider me,” Lopez mentioned throughout Monday’s council assembly. “To anybody who feels I’ve harmed them, damage them, et cetera, precise or perceived, my apologies.”
Starr mentioned he’s working with the San Bernardino County district lawyer’s workplace to discover authorized avenues to take away Lopez from workplace, together with by proving he dedicated a felony or betrayed his oath of workplace.
The one alternate options can be for Lopez to resign, for voters to take away him by means of a expensive recall election, or by means of the passage of a state regulation increasing on violations that set off removing. His present council time period runs till 2028.
“Elected officers needs to be held accountable for his or her actions,” Fuentes mentioned. “The state wants to make use of the legislative course of to discover what mechanisms can be found to cope with a rogue council member.”
Within the meantime, the council will host a closed-session assembly subsequent month to contemplate stripping Lopez of his month-to-month pay and advantages.
