WASHINGTON _ Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-Calif., confirmed Thursday that he is the unidentified elected official in a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles alleging sexual molestation of a teenage girl, but he vehemently denied the allegations.
"My client is sickened and distraught by these horrific allegations, which are 100 percent, categorically untrue," Patricia Glaser, an attorney for Cardenas, said Thursday in a statement.
"We respect victims who have found the strength to come forward and call out misconduct when it has actually occurred, but the type of baseless and reckless allegations that are contained in the complaint against my client can ruin the lives and careers of innocent people," she said.
Cardenas said the woman who filed the suit is the daughter of a "disgruntled former employee" who "may be the victim of manipulation."
Cardenas, one of the highest-ranking Latino members of Congress, leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Bold PAC, which works to elect Latinos nationwide. He also holds a low-level position in the House leadership.
Cardenas has been contacting fellow members of Congress in recent days to assert his innocence in connection with the lawsuit.
The Los Angeles Times has been unable to corroborate the allegations and no public evidence has emerged to support them. The lawsuit poses one of the biggest political threats the San Fernando Valley lawmaker has faced.
Repeated attempts to contact Cardenas and his staff during the past week have failed.
