Since his resignation from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors two years ago, after being accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit, which has now been dismissed, Nathan Fletcher has stayed out of the public eye. That is, until now.
“I was supposed to be a leader and a role model in our community, and I actually believe we should look up to our elected officials,” Fletcher said as part of a statement to news cameras, including NBC 7, before taking questions on Friday. “I believe they should set an example, and in that regard, I failed, and I’m very sorry.”
Nathan Fletcher suit
Fletcher shared that the dismissal of the suit made him feel as though it was time to step back into the public eye, only briefly, to address what happened and where he has been. He began by thanking those who supported him, including his wife, Lorena Gonzalez, their kids and his legal team.
“I love my wife deeply, more than anything in the world, and she’s not only a tremendous wife, a great mother — now a grandmother — but she’s my best friend, and I was foolish and I hurt her,” Fletcher said. “I embarrassed her, and she didn’t deserve any of it.”
The former supervisor also said that resigning from the county was the best thing to do for his family, while maintaining that “the accusations against [him] were completely false.”
Fletcher added that he has spent significant time since resigning to address his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (as a Marine Corps veteran), alcohol abuse and childhood trauma.
“I went to an in-patient trauma center in Arizona that specializes in complex trauma, specializes in combat-related trauma,” Fletcher said. “It was equine-based, and there was something really magical and special about equine-assisted therapy and what that can do. I found a great sponsor who had been through similar experiences, and I found a wonderful home in the AA community.”
Fletcher also took a moment to advocate for the use of psychedelics “in therapy for trauma victims and addiction and things like that,” after sharing about a “transformative” experience at a retreat in Mexico.
Gonzalez sat beside him, holding hands, and reaffirmed that she was determined to stand by him, and protect their relationship and family, and was from the first time he mentioned the complaint to her.
“Everything he told me was true, so immediately I said I’m going to do everything I can to fight for my marriage, to fight for my family,” Gonzalez said.
When asked if he plans to return to politics, Fletcher said, “I just don’t see it,” then added, “when I left, obviously it was under less than ideal circumstances, but I haven’t missed it, and the thought of doing it just makes me nauseous. When I say there’s no interest, I mean: There’s no interest.”
Still, Fletcher added, he “will look back on the eight years [he] spent in San Diego in public office with a measure of pride.”
For now, he said, he is working as a cowboy and plans to continue “working on ranches, just saddling my horses on rides, you know? I found a wonderful place to go, and none of the cowboys there knew anything about me. I was some Marine who got sent to rehab and sent to the ranch.”
It was mid-May 2023 when Fletcher sent out a letter announcing his resignation from the board, an action previewed by a post on X (then Twitter), that same year in March. It was then that Fletcher announced he would be going on leave for treatment, including for alcohol abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. Two days later, he resigned as the head of the San Diego Metropolitan System.
That same day, a former MTS employee, Grecia Figueroa, filed suit, alleging that Fletcher groped her on two occasions and pursued a sexual relationship with her for months, leading to her abrupt firing on Feb. 6, the day Fletcher announced his state Senate candidacy.
Fletcher denied those allegations in a letter to “Dear Constituents, Supporters, and Friends” that NBC 7 obtained at the time.
“I own, unequivocally, the responsibility for making the mistake of engaging in consensual interactions with someone outside of my marriage,” read the statement, in part, attributed to Fletcher. “And while I strenuously deny the allegations you have no doubt heard levied against me, I apologize for letting down so many people important to me — my family, staff, constituents, supporters and friends.”
The lawsuit was dismissed on Aug. 8, 2025, due to what a judge said were continuous failures by Fletcher’s accuser to turn over evidence and, in some cases, the destruction of evidence.
The case was set to go to trial next month, but Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner ruled that too much evidence had been deleted or not turned over to the defense for the case to go before a jury.
The evidence at issue included numerous text and audio messages, some between Figueroa and Fletcher, and others between Figueroa and a close friend.
Fletcher’s attorneys have argued those messages support their contentions that any intimate interactions between Fletcher and Figueroa were consensual. Figueroa’s attorneys have argued that many of the messages were deleted inadvertently due to an auto-delete function on her phone, while other seemingly flirtatious conversations with Fletcher were not entirely consensual, but rather a product of the power imbalance that existed between them at MTS.
NBC 7 reached out to Figueroa on Friday, who said, “I hope healing for anyone who’s gone through trauma, but real healing can only begin by telling the truth.” She also added that she plans to appeal the dismissal.
Fletcher also has an ongoing defamation suit against her, which he said he plans to continue with.
A separate lawsuit that remains ongoing accuses Fletcher of using campaign money from his state Senate bid to fund his defense in the sex harassment litigation.
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