2024-01-28 19:50:52
Yikes. Jovan Thomas, a victim advocate in the San Francisco District Attorney Office’s critical incidents team, sent District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and the entire office an email Friday morning that said, “what color panties you have on”.
He was promptly fired.
Screenshots posted on X, formerly Twitter, show the entire email thread. Thomas sent an apologetic follow-up, claiming he meant to send the message as a joke to a fraternity brother. Some X users speculated that they were having an affair, while others called it out as sexual harassment.
Regardless, it was an incredibly stupid and misogynistic thing to say anywhere, much less in a workplace. Plus, as the Chronicle reported, it was in response to a calendar invite for an anti-discrimination meeting aimed to memorialize the tragic killing of gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998.
As the screenshots show, Chief Assistant District Attorney Ana Gonzalez sent a follow-up message to the entire staff, alerting them that the matter was under administration scrutiny. The email urged employees to delete the message and refrain from further dissemination.
Shortly following, a spokesperson for Jenkins, Randy Quezada, issued a statement announcing the Thomas’ termination and clarifying that there was no relationship between District Attorney Jenkins and Thomas, according to the Chronicle. It emphasized that the misogynistic behavior displayed in the email violated the office’s code of conduct.
Again, yikes.
Per the StandardThomas had previously been accused of sexual harassment. Reportedly, in a complaint filed in September 2018, a woman (identified as Jane Doe) accused Victim Advocate Jovan Thomas and the city of San Francisco of sexual misconduct and taking advantage of her in the followingmath of a robbery and gang violence. She alleged that Thomas engaged in inappropriate behavior during a meeting at the Bayview Victim Services office and later invited her to his home, where they had sexual relations, and followingwards, that he pressured her with repeated texts and calls. In September 2019, Jane Doe dropped Thomas as a defendant, leaving the city as the sole defendant, but at the 2021 trial, a judge found that the government was not liable for Thomas’s alleged misconduct as it was not within the scope of his employment.
Feature image of DA Brooke Jenkins via Getty Images/Justin Sullivan.
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