Money for Sex scandal: Accuser speaks out

The Dona Ana County Treasurer accused of offering an employee money for sex, spoke publicly for the first time last week.

In a letter to the Las Cruces Bulletin last week, David Gutierrez said,
“I will not resign. I have 38,867 reasons why I won’t resign. That is the number of people who voted to re-elect me in 2012. More people voted for me than anybody else on the ballot. I am not bragging. My intent is to point out that the citizens of Dona Ana County trust me and approve of my job performance. And I have done nothing over the 14 years in office to violate their trust.”

His admission of harassment and the defiant letter have not only angered community leaders, but his accuser. She says he must now own up to his actions.

“He’s acting like he didn’t do anything wrong. He did,” the woman, who did not want to be identified, said.

Though Gutierrez says he has done nothing to violate the voter’s trust, the woman says otherwise.

“I don’t trust him, I don’t think the public trusts him,” the woman said.

The woman says the encounter happened in August. At the time, she was working for Gutierrez’s office. She says as she was about to head out of the office to run office errands, Gutierrez volunteered to tag along.

“Mr. Gutierrez told me hold on, I’m going to go with you. I mentioned to my supervisor. I mean he’s my boss, what am I supposed to say. I went and he proposed that to me,” she said.

Initially, she was shocked, but that quickly turned into fear.

“I was really afraid when it happened. I didn’t know what to do. I was ready to jump from the truck. I was really afraid to lose my job it was his words against mine. He was my boss,” she said.

After reporting the incident to Human Resources, Gutierrez admitted the allegations to H.R.

He was formally reprimanded by commissioners and they asked him to step down.

Gutierrez can only be removed from office by voters through a recall election, which his critics say is difficult due to time constraints.

Meanwhile, Gutierrez’s accuser says this entire ordeal has caused her a lot of stress and hopes Gutierrez does the honorable thing as a public servant, and resigns.

“Sometimes I’m uncomfortable knowing the situation that happened. I don’t think anyone deserves that,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office tells Abc-7, they’ve reviewed the case and will refer it to a law enforcement agency for investigation. David Gutierrez declined to comment on the matter.