A Los Angeles Police Department officer has alleged that a senior adviser to the city’s mayor harassed him repeatedly over a period of years and that the mayor never responded to the behavior.
Officer Matthew Garza, formerly a member of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s protection detail, filed a lawsuit against the city on Tuesday, according to FOX LA. He claimed that Rick Jacobs, who has long advised the mayor on political matters, made repeated sexual advances toward him.
On many occasions, Garza claimed that Jacobs shook his hand, only to pull him in for a tight hug and say something along the lines of, “You’re so strong and handsome.” Garza said these interactions made him “extremely uncomfortable” and that the mayor was present for about half of them.
“Jacobs repeatedly talked about his young gay lover, his lover’s penis, having ‘rough sex’ with his gay partners, liking ‘big c—s’, and being attracted to younger men,” the lawsuit stated. “On multiple occasions, Jacobs stated in [Garza’s] presence, ‘You guys ready to f— without KY?'”
The lawsuit further alleged that the mayor was fully aware of a number of these comments.
“Mayor Garcetti was present on many, if not most of the occasions when Jacobs made sexually inappropriate comments, but the Mayor took no action to stop the comments from being made or even identify the comments as being inappropriate. On some occasions, the Mayor would laugh at Jacobs’ crude comments.”
On one occasion, Garza alleged that Jacobs motioned for the officer to come sit on his lap. On another, at an event, Jacobs allegedly “looked directly at [Garza] and licked his straw in a sexual manner.”
After Garza took a leave of absence for a back injury in June, he refused to return to Garcetti’s protection detail, citing the harassment as his reason. Garza says that as a result, he lost his rank as Police Officer III+1.
FOX LA reported that Jacobs couldn’t be immediately reached for comment and that the mayor’s office did not immediately return a request for more information.
