Former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said Friday that he is ready to move on with life beyond politics after the “fabricated” sexual assault case against him was dismissed.
Fletcher met with members of the press after the deadline for former MTS public relations specialist Grecia Figueroa to file an appeal following the dismissal of her case in August.
Speaking from the offices of Unite Here Local 30 in Bankers Hill, and accompanied by his wife, state union leader Lorena Gonzalez, Fletcher said he took responsibility for bad judgement in his brief relationship with Figueroa but her case against him was a fabrication.
“It will perhaps go down as the greatest sex scandal in history that didn’t involve any sex. Essentially a kiss and some embarrassing messages . But it as wrong. And I knew that,” he said.
After Figueroa filed suit, Fletcher resigned as a county supervisor and ended his campaign for state Senate. The Marine veteran also began therapy for post traumatic stress syndrome and alcohol use.
“I really regret some of the things that I did, and certainly how it played out. But all I can do is move forward,” he said, as both he and Gonzalez wiped their eyes.
Fletcher repeatedly thanked his wife, saying, “Through this she fought to clear my name. She fought to try to hold our family together.”
He said he has “no desire to return to politics” and is currently doing some consulting and also pursuing ranch work outdoors.
Gonzalez, a former state assemblymember who has written numerous laws on sexual assault in the workplace, said Figueroa’s fabrication will cause lasting damage to women in the workplace.
“What she did to my family — we’re fine. What she did to my husband — we’ll live through that,” she said. But “when an actual survivor, sexual assault or sexual harassment, comes forward, people are going to remember, oh yeah, like that girl…”
Fletcher’s attorney, Sam Sherman, said Figueroa “intentionally and repeatedly distored and hid the truth throughout the litigation in order to make herself to be the victim” and the evidence uncovered “shows unequivocally that the allegations against Mr. Fletcher … were from the start fabricated.”
And Fletcher is pursuing a separate defamation case against Figueroa, saying her lawsuit amounted to an extortion attempt.
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