A California lobbyist is claiming Democrat Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, 36, sexually harassed her at a friend’s wedding in Las Vegas in 2016. Pamela Lopez says Dababneh followed her into a bathroom, dropped his pants and masturbated in front her while he asked her to touch his genitals.
Lopez, 35, says she rejected the advances of the San Fernando Valley rep., telling him, “No, I will not touch you.”
The lobbyist recalled the alleged incident on Monday at a press conference. Lopez initially told the account to The New York Times in October without disclosing the politician’s name, but, according to reports, was motivated to come forward with Dababneh’s name after other women detailed their negative experiences with him.
“He had begun masturbating,” she recalled. “I started backing up and he moved toward me while he was masturbating and, in explicit terms, told me to touch his genitals while masturbating. And I thought, what do I do, what do I do? Make it explicitly clear that I do not want to be here and that there is no misunderstanding. So I said several times: ‘No, I will not touch you. No, I will not touch you.'”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the assemblyman “100%” denies the allegations.
“I am utterly shocked and blown away,” Dababneh told the Times. “This is a career-ending charge based on no facts.”
“For nearly two years, I have lived in fear that I will be shunned or retaliated against if my professional community learns that I was sexually assaulted by a lawmaker. And that few caused me to remain silent, instead of seeking justice through formal channels in the legislature,” wrote Lopez in a letter to Assembly Rules Committee Chair Ken Cooley.
“I am filing this report even though, through his attorney, Mr. Dababneh has tried to silence me by threatening to sue me for defamation if I persisted in reporting this assault,” she added.
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