Ex-San Diego County Democratic Party chair won’t face charges in sex allegation

The former chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party said Friday that he has been cleared of wrongdoing following a District Attorney’s Office investigation into allegations of nonconsensual sex.

The claims against Will Rodriguez-Kennedy surfaced earlier this year in a social media post from local activist Tasha Williamson, who wrote that he had been accused of sex without consent.

“The Chair of the San Diego Democratic Party needs to tell the Party about the allegations against him!” the May 4 post read, which also accused the county Democratic party of failing to investigate the incident or support the alleged victim.

Rodriguez-Kennedy denied the allegations and subsequently announced that he was taking a leave of absence, but announced in a press release Friday that he will not be criminally charged following “a thorough, independent investigation of that accusation.”

The statement said, “Several months ago I was accused of something I did not do,” which he said made him “the target of racist and homophobic hatred” and caused him to suffer “reputationally, emotionally and physically.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy said that amid the DA’s Office investigation, he “provided evidence which refuted any claim of wrongdoing” and has since been informed by his attorney that “The Office of the District Attorney has closed the investigation and no charges of any kind will be filed.”

District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Tanya Sierra said in a statement, “After a thorough review, we determined that no charges could be filed in this case. We do not discuss our charging decisions except to say that we can only file charges when we believe we can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Rodriguez-Kennedy said in his statement, “With this trauma behind me, I look forward to returning to my work in service of the public and my party.”

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