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Yesterday, Monica De La Cruz told an alleged victim of sexual assault that she was banned from working with her campaign because she spoke out against alleged predator Aron Peña, Texas Public Radio reports.
A member of the Hidalgo County Teen Republicans filed a new lawsuit against Mayra Flores’ former district director Aron Peña for an assault that allegedly happened while he was on her official staff. Peña is accused of “a long and well-known history of harassment and assault of young girls,” with complaints dating as far back as 2008.
According to the victim’s attorney, Monica De La Cruz told her “and another member of the Hidalgo County GOP they were banned from working with the campaign because they spoke out against Aron” – and De La Cruz did not respond to request for comment.
“If the reports are true and Monica De La Cruz banned a young woman who is a victim of assault from working on her campaign just for speaking out, De La Cruz is disqualified from holding office,” said DCCC spokesperson Monica Robinson. “De La Cruz is accused of abusive behavior herself and now she’s using her position of power to protect another alleged abuser. Texans deserve an explanation.”
Texas Public Radio: Million-dollar lawsuit filed against former Mayra Flores staffer for sexual assault
By Gaige Davila
October 21, 2022
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A lawsuit filed in an Hidalgo County District Court on Wednesday alleges that Aron Peña III, former District Director for Mayra Flores’ congressional office, sexually assaulted a woman who recently graduated from high school.
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Cadence Vaughan, a member of the Hidalgo County Teen Republicans group, details in the lawsuit an incident where Peña forced her to kiss him and touched her without consent while driving her home from an event in July. This occurred after a year of “stalking and unrequited advances” while Vaughan was still in high school. Vaughan is seeking up to $1 million in damages.
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Vaughan’s lawyer, Javier Peña (no relation to Aron Peña’s family) dismisses Aron’s claims, saying he has messages and more evidence that allegedly shows a pattern of sexually abusive and inappropriate behavior.
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The lawsuit states that Peña “has a long and well-known history of harassment and assault of young girls.” The suit goes on further to say that complaints against Peña for sexual harassment, verbal and physical abuse, assault and intimidation began in 2010. But Texas Public Radio has evidence of complaints as far back as 2008.
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TPR has previously reported on the interaction between Vaughan and Peña and numerous other allegations made by former staffers, interns, and former romantic partners throughout Peña’s career, including illicit Snapchat and text messages Peña sent to staffers, abusive workplace and domestic violence behavior and physical sexual harassment and abuse towards staffers.
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“I’ve handled a lot of corruption cases, but this is one of the most disgusting sets of facts of any investigation I’ve done pre-suit,” Javier Peña said. “It’s scary, it’s dark and no young girls should be exposed to this.”
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Peña-Garza was confronted this year by members of the Hidalgo County GOP about Peña’s actions against Vaughan and other incidents. The members recorded the interaction. They requested that Peña-Garza keep Aron away from them. She told the members that she couldn’t keep him away from the organization because he was the only person capable of data entry for their software programs.
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The lawsuit says the Hidalgo County GOP is attempting to intimidate those who have spoken out against Peña’s alleged behavior.
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On Thursday, Monica De La Cruz told Vaughan and another member of the Hidalgo County GOP they were banned from working with the campaign because they spoke out against Aron, according to Vaughan’s attorney. De La Cruz’s campaign has not responded to TPR’s request to confirm the incident.
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