BY BRIAN HEWS
Cerritos resident Daniel Fierro, who accused Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia of a reach-around grope at a legislative softball game, is appealing the results of an Assembly investigation that did not substantiate his claims.
Fierro objected to the investigation and the determination on the grounds that the investigation was not impartial or conducted in good faith, and did not afford him due process.
“It is clear that several witnesses identified to the investigator were not interviewed.”
Hews Media Group-Community News exclusively reported last week that the investigation by the Assembly and Vida Thomas of Stoel Rives, LLP, was flawed and that those in the Assembly knew the move was calculated, retaining Thomas for the investigation and creating an attorney-client privilege so the investigation documents can never be revealed.
The letter adressed to Debra Gravert, Chief Administrative Officer of the California Legislature stated:
“The Assemblymember for whom Mr. Fierro worked was on the baseball field at the time and can speak to the condition of Assemblymember Garcia and also Mr. Fierro’s credibility, but was not interviewed. Other Assemblymembers, who were on the baseball field and can testify to the fact that Ms. Garcia was inebriated and her presence after the end of the baseball game, were not interviewed.
We are unaware if the Assemblymember who drove with Assemblymember Garcia to Simon’s Bar after the game was interviewed.
Members of the Assembly and staff who were at Simon’s Bar after the ballgame, who saw Assemblymember Garcia’s inebriated state and other activities at the bar, were not interviewed.
Ms. Erin Lehane who has specific knowledge of the activities involving Assemblymember Garcia and offered to be interviewed, was not interviewed.
We also believe that the investigator failed to interview another witness to whom Mr. Fierro reported the groping incident shortly after it occurred. Mr. Fierro provided this individual’s name and contact information to the investigator, yet we believe that person was never contacted. This account obviously is relevant to the issue of Mr. Fierro’s credibility and substantiating his claims.
Many of the witnesses can provide information in direct contradiction to Ms. Garcia’s public statement that she left the ballpark immediately after the game and, therefore, supposedly was not there at the time that Mr. Fierro asserts she entered the dugout and groped him. Mr. Fierro had only one beer at the game and was entirely sober at the time. Therefore, the level of Ms. Garcia’s inebriation at the time of the incident is directly relevant to determining the relative credibility of Ms. Garcia’s recollection (or lack thereof) of events that night versus Mr. Fierro’s specific recollection of her groping him in the dugout.“
Robin D. Dal Soglio of the Valencia-based law firm of Dal Soglio and MArtens, LLP then slammed Grabert and the investigatory process and confirmed what HMG-CN revealed in the Was The Garcia Investigation Rigged story, “the fact that the Assembly has chosen to shroud the investigation in attorney-client privilege seems designed to render the appeal process challenging since it’s not clear whom the Assembly’s attorney-investigator interviewed and whom she did not. Indeed, claiming an attorney-client relationship with the investigator runs counter to the very idea that the investigator could possibly be impartial in the first place.
Dal Soglio continued, “It took great courage for Mr. Fierro to come forward with his concerns. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose in bringing Assemblywoman Garcia’s behavior to light. In fact, Mr. Fierro continues to suffer direct harm as a result of the woefully inadequate investigation that called into question his credibility and veracity. The scarce “investigation” and the dismissive conclusion sends a strong message to Mr. Fierro and others that reporting such behavior is not worth the cost.”
“Mr. Fierro requests that this matter be further investigated and that he be afforded due process and a thorough, impartial investigation.”
