By Aldo Toledo,City Hall ReporterJuly 5, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)
Zahra Hajee, shown in Los Angeles, is a former aide to Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and Sen. Alex Padilla. She has accused the co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club, Kevin Ortiz, of sexual assault, and she is one of three women who received a cease-and-desist letter from Ortiz after a story ran in the San Francisco Standard about his friend Jon Jacobo, who was also accused of sexual assault and domestic violence.
A woman has told San Francisco police that she was sexually assaulted on two occasions in 2021 by Kevin Ortiz, the co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club and a former staffer for Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
The Chronicle obtained the April police report from the woman, Zahra Hajee, a former aide to city Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. The newspaper does not generally name alleged victims of sexual assault, but Hajee, who now lives in Los Angeles, agreed to be identified for this story.
Ortiz declined the Chronicle’s interview requests, but through an attorney, he denied the allegations and provided a reporter with text messages he says show that the two encounters were consensual.
The San Francisco Democratic Party is in the midst of a rare public conversation about sexual assaults and harassment in local political ranks. The party has created a special committee charged with combating sexual assault and harassment in the city’s Democratic circles. The accusations against Ortiz, which were referenced in the San Francisco Standard in April but have not been detailed until now, at least temporarily cost him a seat on a local nonprofit board.
Hajee told police and the Chronicle that Ortiz sexually assaulted her during encounters at her apartment in March and April 2021, soon after they met.
In 2022, Hajee reported the alleged assaults to Pelosi’s office, the police report said. She told the Chronicle that she made the decision to file a police report after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Ortiz’s attorney on April 24.
“Your false statements about Mr. Ortiz alleging sexual misconduct, which he categorically denies, are defamatory and actionable,” said the letter from the Quadra & Coll LLP law firm.
“If you do not cease and desist from any further defamatory statements, Mr. Ortiz will take legal action against you to recover damages you have wrongly caused to his reputation and employment.”
When she received the letter, Hajee said she knew she needed to speak out about her experience.
“If I’m going to continue to get bullied while being quiet, I might as well just speak up and have something on the record,” Hajee said.
Ortiz’s attorney, James Quadra, said in a statement that Ortiz engaged only in consensual acts with Hajee. Quadra provided screenshots of text message exchanges in which Hajee, after the two incidents, repeatedly sought to get together with Ortiz, sometimes late at night, with Ortiz declining.
“Given the evidence in this matter, it appears that Ms. Hajee’s false allegations against Mr. Ortiz are motivated by the fact that he lost interest in developing a relationship,” Quadra wrote.
Hajee, now 26, acknowledged she continued to pursue a relationship with Ortiz, 30, after each of the incidents, saying she was young and still processing what had happened to her.
The Chronicle also interviewed a second woman who received a cease-and-desist letter from Ortiz in April. The woman, who declined to be identified by name and has not filed a police report, said that in 2019, Ortiz repeatedly touched her sexually without her consent and after she told him she was too drunk to consent.
Quadra disputed that Ortiz assaulted the woman, saying that the two only kissed, consensually.
Ortiz’s attorney also said Hajee and the second woman were “working in concert to defame Mr. Ortiz in an attempt to ruin his reputation” because they “are friends and run in the same circles.”
Hajee and the woman said they did not know each other until Hajee reached out in 2022 to encourage the other woman to report Ortiz’s alleged misconduct to Pelosi’s office.
The woman spoke with Pelosi’s office shortly afterward and before Ortiz left his job there in 2022, according to text messages provided by Hajee. Both women said they were never told the results of the office’s review of the case.
Quadra said Pelosi’s office questioned Ortiz. He said Ortiz received a letter from Pelosi’s office that said the text message history between Ortiz and Hajee was “inconsistent” with her allegations. Quadra declined to make the full letter available to the Chronicle for review. Pelosi’s office declined to comment for this story, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters.
Ortiz sent cease-and-desist letters to both women shortly after the Standard reported on sexual assault allegations against another city political insider, Jon Jacobo, the two women told the Chronicle. Ortiz and Jacobo run in the same political circles.
Ortiz also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sasha Perigo, a Bay Area affordable housing advocate who has publicly accused Jacobo of raping her — an allegation Jacobo denies. Perigo had posted a message on X on April 24 stating she had been told Ortiz faced sexual assault accusations.
Perigo included a screenshot of a message in which an unidentified person wrote, “y’all, now can we hold the other community leaders like Kevin Ortiz accountable, who have literally been known and accused for this exact same thing?”
Quadra said Ortiz sent the letters because he “reached the reasonable conclusion that Ms. Hajee had either authored the post or was spreading false information that led to the post.” Hajee told the Chronicle she did not write the post.
The allegations
Hajee and Ortiz met in early 2021 when she worked in state Sen. Scott Wiener’s office as an aide and he worked in Pelosi’s office as a field representative and case worker, Hajee said in her statement to police and her interview with the Chronicle. She said the two connected through work and mutual friends, and first met in person after she invited him out on March 4, 2021. They met at Blondie’s Bar in the Mission District.
Hajee said she did not consider this a date, but “wanted to get to know” Ortiz, the police report states. According to her account, after about two hours of conversation and drinking alcohol, she decided to order an Uber to take her home. When it arrived, Ortiz “suddenly jumped into the car,” she said.
Hajee provided screenshots of text messages to the Chronicle that she said she also gave to police. While in the Uber, she texted a friend at 11:41 p.m., telling him she “might be in a situation” and asking him to stay awake because she was “a little worried” about Ortiz. She said she told her friend — who corroborated the conversation to the Chronicle in an interview — that if she used the word “apricot” it meant she was in distress.
Hajee told police that when the two arrived at her apartment, they went to the living room. Hajee recalled Ortiz asking, “What do you want out of tonight?” When Hajee responded that she didn’t want to have sex, she said, Ortiz replied that “you like to dot your ‘I’s and cross your ‘T’s.”
Hajee said that when she asked Ortiz how he wanted the night to go, he responded, “Let’s see where tonight takes us.” She said Ortiz then followed her into her bedroom, though she said she does not recall inviting him.
Hajee texted her friend, who suggested she ask Ortiz to leave. But, she told police, she worried about how he would react. She said she lay in bed while Ortiz “scooched” next to her.
Over the next seven hours, she told police, Ortiz touched her breasts and “put his hands in my pants” while she repeatedly pushed his hands, arms and body away. Hajee said Ortiz penetrated her vagina with his finger and “grinded against me,” the report says.
Hajee messaged her friend “apricot, apricot, apricot” at 1:12 a.m. The friend did not respond. In the morning, Hajee told police, she pretended that everything was fine because she was fearful of what would happen next.
Quadra, Ortiz’s attorney, said in his statement that Hajee had invited Ortiz back to her home from the bar, and that Ortiz had agreed.
He said the two “engaged in consensual kissing before falling asleep” and that Ortiz neither sexually assaulted Hajee nor digitally penetrated her. “Mr. Ortiz left in the morning after he cuddled with Ms. Hajee,” the attorney wrote.
Hajee told police that she reached out to Ortiz via text two days later about a work-related issue. The two mutually agreed to “hang out” again on April 28, 2021, meeting at an establishment whose name Hajee couldn’t recall, according to the police report.
Hajee said Ortiz “continued to hand me drinks that I didn’t want or pay for.” She recalled “being substantially drunk” before she invited Ortiz “back to my place to cuddle.” She told police she confronted Ortiz about the earlier incident and told him he could come to her house “but not like last time when I didn’t want you in my house.”
At Hajee’s home, Ortiz “tried taking off my clothes; tried to kiss me,” the report states, and groped and penetrated Hajee in the “same acts with his hands as during the March incident.” Hajee told police and the Chronicle she woke up feeling violated and vomited. She told police she didn’t know what to do and “regretfully” accepted a hug from Ortiz before he left.
Quadra said Hajee had invited Ortiz out that night, and later had invited him to spend the night at her home. “They again engaged in consensual kissing and also consensual fondling,” the attorney wrote. “They decided it was not the right time to have intercourse and then fell asleep.”
Quadra provided screenshots of text messages showing that Hajee and Ortiz communicated regularly in between the two encounters and afterward. According to the text messages, Hajee on several occasions that May and June asked Ortiz to hang out, including late at night, sometimes asking him to get together to cuddle. In some messages, Hajee mentioned she had been drinking or was drunk.
“I’m sorry if I’ve been making you feel like you’re being used,” Hajee texted on the afternoon of May 24. “I reflected a bit and I don’t want you to feel like you’re just being used as a source of comfort when I’m sad/drunk, when you’re very much more than that to me!” She asked Ortiz, “Do you want to grab drinks tomorrow/Wed (and you can come over after if you want) LOL.”
Ortiz did not respond until the next day, the text string shows.
Quadra said Ortiz felt uncomfortable with Hajee’s drinking and decided he did not want to pursue a romantic relationship with her. Quadra said Ortiz declined to meet Hajee on eight occasions.
Responding to Ortiz’s account of their relationship and to the screenshots provided by his attorney, Hajee told the Chronicle she was “upset” that Ortiz had “resorted to a classic case of victim-blaming to explain away his actions and avoid responsibility.” She said her relationship with Ortiz was complicated but that “consent is simple — and on several vulnerable occasions, I did not consent.”
Hajee said the reaction was a “common trauma response” from a sexual assault survivor.
“It’s important to remember that I was violated by someone I knew and considered a friend,” Hajee said. “The betrayal of trust by someone I thought I could rely on was really difficult to reconcile, and at the time — like many survivors — I blamed myself.
“The fact that I maintained a relationship with him after several incidents of sexual assault does not diminish the reality that I was violated,” she added.
Hajee and Ortiz met again on June 17, 2021. According to the police report, she recounted that they traveled with other people in the same car to the Slate karaoke bar in the Mission after attending a political fundraising event.
Hajee told police that after they arrived at the bar, she walked to a corner store. Ortiz followed her and she confronted him for the first time, telling him that “you got handsy with me, I didn’t like it and I want an apology.” She said Ortiz responded, “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
According to the police report, Hajee said Ortiz then told her that her behavior was “performative” and that she “should be grateful that I treat you with respect,” comments that upset her.
Hajee said another friend partially witnessed this encounter. The Chronicle interviewed the friend, who is named in the police report but spoke on condition of anonymity. The friend said Hajee was “visibly uncomfortable” and “unusually quiet” while riding to the bar and before entering the corner store, followed by Ortiz. The friend said he was worried and waited for her.
Hajee walked out of the store in tears, the friend said. About 15 minutes later, he said, Hajee entered the bar and Ortiz followed. The friend said Hajee asked him to position himself between her and Ortiz, which he did. The friend said Ortiz became intoxicated and soon left. What followed, he said, was an “extraordinarily distressing” conversation with a distraught Hajee, who stated she was uncomfortable with Ortiz because he had assaulted her.
According to an account provided by Quadra, his attorney, Ortiz — after riding in a car with Hajee to Slate bar — “crossed the street to say hello to a friend who owns a business nearby. He said Ms. Hajee joined the conversation. As they were walking back, Ms. Hajee snapped at Mr. Ortiz, stating that he had used his body language to physically box her out of the conversation.”
Quadra said that when Ortiz disagreed, Hajee “appeared to become more upset and then referenced for the first time that she was uncomfortable about the night Mr. Ortiz had spent at her home on April 28, 2021. The argument became more heated when Mr. Ortiz challenged her statement, telling her that this was the first time he had ever heard that and then asked her why she kept reaching out to him. This caused Ms. Hajee to become even more upset and she stormed off.”
About six months later, on Jan. 1, 2022, Hajee reported the alleged sexual assaults to Pelosi’s office by speaking with Dan Bernal, the former House speaker’s then-chief of staff, she told police and the Chronicle. She said that when she learned about the second woman’s allegations, she encouraged her to also talk to Pelosi’s office.
Both women said they had hours-long conversations with Bernal and current Chief of Staff Terri McCullough but never learned the results of any inquiry. Ortiz left Pelosi’s office in June 2022.
Quadra said Ortiz has “never left any employment because of a finding that he engaged in sexual misconduct.”
Aaron Bennett, a spokesperson for Pelosi’s office, said in a text message that “as a matter of policy, our office does not comment on personnel matters.”
DCCC forms committee
As of July, Ortiz continues to serve as co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club, according to its website. The club’s other co-president, Deldelp Medina, told the Chronicle that the club had neither received nor heard of any formal complaints against Ortiz.
The Chinatown Community Development Center, a nonprofit that operates affordable housing, told its staff in late April that Ortiz was placed on “indefinite leave.”
“We have read the social media reports and honor the courage of anyone who comes forward. All allegations are serious and deserve a full and complete investigation,” the board said in the April statement to its staff.
Contacted by the Chronicle on July 2, Lindsey Quock, co-chair of the Chinatown center board, said Ortiz had resigned on June 26 and added that the board is grateful for his service and stands behind its April statement.
Meanwhile, the governing body of the local Democratic party, the Democratic County Central Committee, or DCCC, announced the formation of a subcommittee charged with creating new standards of conduct for party clubs and members.
DCCC Co-Chairperson Nancy Tung said at the time she was forming the subcommittee because of the accusations against Jon Jacobo as well as “a recent second allegation against a current president of a chartered Democratic club,” whom she did not name.
At the committee’s first meeting on May 22, its chairperson, Lily Ho, said she wanted to ensure that the “committee is not for nothing” as it attempts to prevent potential misconduct.
“We will be doing something about this,” Ho said.
Still, some members of the party have criticized the fact that the committee’s inaugural members were all moderates recently elected to DCCC, and that in the past, some had defended politically powerful men accused of wrongdoing.
Michela Alioto-Pier, a former city supervisor, resigned from the committee a few days after it was created after critics resurfaced a letter of support she sent to the court on behalf of a powerful San Francisco political player who had been convicted of domestic violence.
Some committee members have received political donations and guidance from Jay Cheng, the executive director of the nonprofit Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, who as a college student 14 years ago was arrested but not charged after a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault. Cheng has said he was falsely accused.
Hajee and the other woman who have accused Ortiz said they decided not to participate in the DCCC sexual assault committee’s first meeting because they felt uncomfortable with some committee members’ past conduct and affiliations.
Hajee said she was also concerned about comments that Ho, the committee chairperson, made to Mission Local in May. Ho said she had worked with Cheng over the years and had “never once ever smelled” any inappropriate behavior from him.
Ho told the Chronicle in a statement that the DCCC is “taking important and groundbreaking actions to protect against sexual misconduct and sexual abuse.”
She continued, “We would hope that everyone would want to participate in this process to protect individuals from the abuses of the past.”
Tung, the DCCC co-chairperson, said the special committee will not investigate specific allegations of sexual misconduct. Asked about the women’s concerns about working with the committee, she said that “if people don’t feel like the process is exactly what they want it to be and refuse to participate, that’s agency that every survivor should have.”
The second woman who spoke to the Chronicle called the committee “inappropriate.”
“I’m not interested in participating in a committee designed with self-aggrandizement first and … the political advancement of its own committee members,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunities for the committee to do something helpful, but they’re trying to make themselves look as good as possible.”
Hajee said that, in the future, she might be open to participating.
“We want to come forward, but on our own terms,” Hajee said. “The process truly needs to center survivors.”
Reach Aldo Toledo: aldo.toledo@sfchronicle.com
July 5, 2024
CITY HALL REPORTER
Adalberto “Aldo” Toledo is a city hall reporter with The San Francisco Chronicle covering the mayor and Board of Supervisors. He is a Venezuelan American from a family of longtime journalists.Before joining the Chronicle in 2023, he reported on Peninsula governments and breaking news for the San Jose Mercury News. He also has bylines in the Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Champaign, Illinois News-Gazette.Raised in Texas, he studied journalism with a print news focus at the University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism, where he worked as News Editor for the North Texas Daily student newspaper.
Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/new-allegations-against-s-f-politico-democrats-19552577.php?utm_content=cta&sid=53b8a5219dbcd4db6500018b&ss=P&st_rid=null&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=headlines&utm_campaign=sfc_morningfix
