Dad, son refused to fix tenant’s gas leak after she reported sexual harassment, feds say
A woman and her young children were forced to live without heat for a month after she repeatedly rejected, and reported, a maintenance worker’s sexual advances in California, according to a new federal lawsuit.
Javier Salazar Jr., the maintenance worker of rental properties in Bakersfield, is accused of propositioning the former tenant for sex, groping her, relentlessly calling and texting her and barging into her home, unannounced, to take photos of framed pictures of her and her daughter, the lawsuit says.
The woman reported Salazar Jr.’s sexual harassment to Javier Salazar Sr., his father and the property manager, but it was to no avail, according to the Department of Justice, which filed the lawsuit Aug. 28.
Instead, the Salazars are accused of retaliating against her after she warned she’d go to the police or contact a lawyer if Salazar Jr.’s harassment, which lasted from December 2018 through March 2019, didn’t stop.
When the woman smelled gas in her home in late February 2019, a utility company shut off gas connections to her heater and dryer and said repairs were needed before service could be restored, a complaint says.
The Salazars refused to fix the gas leak, despite the woman’s pleas, according to the complaint.
“I can’t have my kids here with no heat…I don’t want your son here call a licensed contractor,” the woman texted Salazar Sr. around March 4, 2019, the complaint says.
After a month without heat or a dryer, the woman moved from her home in April 2019, according to the complaint.
The Department of Justice filed its lawsuit against the Salazars and Ricardo Covarrubias, the owner of the Bakersfield rental properties, accusing them of violating the Fair Housing Act, the agency announced in an Aug. 28 news release.
According to prosecutors, Covarrubias is liable for the Salazars’ conduct, including sexual harassment and retaliation.
“The actions of Salazar Jr. and the failure or refusal of Salazar Sr. and Covarrubias to act on the tenant’s behalf caused her harm and distress,” U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert, of the Eastern District of California, said in a statement.
Information regarding legal representation for the Salazars or Covarrubias wasn’t immediately available the morning of Aug. 29.
Woman never received security deposit, belongings
On April 2, 2019, one day after the woman moved most of her belongings out of her home, she returned to find a padlocked fence and realized locks to the property were changed, the complaint says.
That day, she planned to collect the rest of her belongings — but was unable to, according to the complaint.
When she wanted to collect her security deposit, Salazar Jr. “refused to mail it to her and told her she would have to come to his house to get it,” the complaint says.
“Not wanting any further interactions with Salazar Jr., (she) declined to do so, and never received her security deposit.”
A few months later, the woman filed a fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, accusing the defendants of discriminating against her while a tenant based on sex, the complaint says.
The HUD secretary investigated her complaint and “attempted conciliation without success” before determining “reasonable cause existed to believe that Defendants violated the Fair Housing Act,” according to the complaint.
After the secretary issued a charge of discrimination on July 11, the woman chose to have her claims resolved with a civil action, the complaint says.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the defendants from subjecting others to the conduct they’re accused of carrying out against the woman. It also seeks to recover monetary damages for the woman.
The Department of Justice demands a trial by jury.
Bakersfield is a city about 110 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
This story was originally published August 29, 2023 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Dad, son refused to fix tenant’s gas leak after she reported sexual harassment, feds say."
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