Lathrop Mayor Denies Harassing Female City Hall Employee
LATHROP (CBS13) - A female city employee claims Lathrop mayor Joseph "Chaka" Santos made inappropriate comments and held her hand for too long, but Santos says it's all politically motivated.
The city hired an investigator after the woman came forward claiming the mayor was making her feel uncomfortable.
Hiding behind his screen door on Tuesday, Santos denied making inappropriate comments to the City Hall employee.
"My face has been out there enough and I don't like it when my grandkids or people start talking," he said.
CBS13's Andrea Menniti asked him if he spent more time with the woman than other staffers. "No! No! That's it, no! I didn't," an irritated Santos said.
Menniti: "Did you call her baby?"
Mayor: "No, no!"
Those are just a few of the allegations in a report released to the City Council, which voted to forward it to the grand jury.
The woman came forward and told the investigator Santos said "things that he should only say to his wife" and that he told the woman "they would have had beautiful children together."
And then there's an incident involving rubber bands. The report say during a handshake, Santos removed rubber bands from the woman's hands "then held the rubber bands up to his mouth and pretended to lick them."
The report goes on to say he handed them back, shook her hand, and would not let it go.
Santos said all the allegations are false. "There's no gray area with me. You like me or you don't," he said.
The woman reported the incidents after Santos allegedly asked to meet her outside of Lathrop to give her a gift.
Menniti: "Is any of this true? This 50-page report?"
Mayor; "No, no. It's all hearsay."
Santos hasn't formally announced if he's seeking a second term and believes the allegations are politically motivated.
"My wife just had heart surgery and now they want to bring this up," he said. "I guess they wanted me to step down, but I made a promise to my wife that I would finish this out."
No one at City Hall would comment. CBS13 also reached out to the council members but didn't hear back from anyone.
Santos says he welcomes the grand jury investigation.
