US: ‘No charges’ against gay Republican accused of sexually harassing male staffer
No criminal charges will be filed against a Republican candidate who has been accused of sexually harassing and groping a male staff member.
Republican Carl DeMaio was on course to become his party’s first openly gay congressman, running to represent California’s 52nd district in the US House of Representatives next month.
However, he has been accused of acting inappropriately towards Todd Bosnich, 28, while Mr Bosnich was working on his campaign.
Mr Bosnich claims that the candidate had masturbated in front of him, groped him, and kissed his neck – but DeMaio denies all wrongdoing.
This week, the San Diego district attorney announced that no charges would be filed against DeMaio over the allegations due to the lack of evidence.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said: “After thorough investigations conducted by the San Diego Police Department… no criminal charges will be filed at this time due to insufficiency of evidence.”
Former George W Bush adviser Brad Blakeman warned previously that the incident could cost DeMaio in his neck-and-neck battle with Democrat Scott Peters, whom he had a three-point lead over before the news broke.
Mr Blakeman said: “This is going to hurt him. Whether it’s fatally or not remains to be seen.
“This certainly has not helped his effort and any slim margin that he had before this scandal has eroded, I’m sure, in the next poll.”
