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Oct. 31, 2018 / 2:20 PM GMT
By Kalhan Rosenblatt
A Florida mayor is accused of soliciting sex from a constituent in exchange for speed bumps, according to the Florida Commission on Ethics and local reports.
In a press release on Oct. 24, the commission found that there was probable cause to find that David Stewart, the mayor of Lantana, Florida, “misused his position to attempt to obtain a sexual benefit for himself.”
Stewart solicited sex from a constituent “based on an understanding his vote, official action, or judgment would be influenced,” the commission said.
Stewart did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he denied the allegation to The Palm Beach Post. The Florida Commission on Ethics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report alleges that Stewart told constituent Catherine Padilla three years ago that he would install speed bumps she had advocated for if she had sex with him, according to the Post.
Padilla filed two complaints this year that Stewart had made a sexual innuendo at her during a banquet and that he had solicited sex for the speed bumps, the Post reported.
The commission dismissed the complaint about the innuendo in June, but went forward with the complaint about the speed bumps.
In the complaint, which NBC News has not seen, Padilla said that Stewart took her to a motel one day after lunch and told her he wanted to have sex with her there, according to the Post.
She declined and said he later called her to say she could still have sex with him in order to receive the speed bumps in her community, according to the Post. She again declined.
The town did eventually grant the speed bumps, but Padilla claimed that Stewart, who was elected in 2000 and is in his seventh term as Lantana’s mayor, threatened to take them away because she did not agree to his advances, the Post reported.
A phone number associated with Padilla was disconnected when NBC News attempted to contact her for comment, and NBC News did not receive a response to emails sent to an account believed to belong to Padilla.
“The mayor should be ashamed for what he did,” Padilla told the Post on Thursday. “I think it’s time he steps down. He needs to be accountable for his actions and he needs to do the right thing and step down.”