State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R–Jackson) faces a federal complaint claiming she violated someone’s First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit was reported by KCRA on Monday, just days after Alvarado-Gil’s former chief of staff filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her.
The big picture: Private investigator Kelley Coelho filed a lawsuit against Alvarado-Gil in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on Aug. 14.
- Coelho claims Alvarado-Gil violated her First Amendment rights by kicking her out of a press conference on June 21 in Turlock regarding the release of a sexually violent predator.
- In the complaint, Coelho claims that Alvarado-Gil and her chief of staff, Vanessa Bravo, directed the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department to remove her and Jack Griffith from the press conference. Griffith was a Republican candidate in the 2022 primary for Senate District 4, placing sixth and not advancing to the general election, which Alvarado-Gil ultimately won.
- Coelho was there because her firm, B and C Investigations, was contracted to support the families in the Mountain View, Turlock and Ballico communities on sexually violent predator issues.
- Coelho is seeking $5 million in damages for the alleged violation.
- Alvarado-Gil denied the claims in a court filing on Tuesday.
Go deeper: Griffith issued a statement in Coelho’s lawsuit, saying he attended a protest against the sexually violent predator’s release, which Alvarado-Gil also attended.
- He said Alvarado-Gil made a joke to Bravo during a conversation with him about how he ran against her in 2022 and is going to run again, adding that there were nothing but smiles and compliments during the interaction.
- Griffith told her that he was going to attend the press conference at the Turlock Police Department and would see her there.
- While at the press conference, Griffith said he saw Bravo talk to a law enforcement officer, who then approached him and asked to talk. They went outside, and Griffith said he was asked if he had a credential to be at the press conference. He also asked who Coelho was and brought her outside.
- The officer told them to not go back inside until the press conference was finished.
What they’re saying: “They said we were not press, we were identified as not being press, and we needed to get out,” Coelho told KCRA. “I asked, ‘What happened and why?’ And the individual who pulled me out specifically said Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil and her staff called us by name to be removed from the location.”
- Coelho told KCRA that she does not know why Alvarado-Gil would have wanted to remove her from the press conference.
