A former housekeeper at a Motel 6 in Oceanside is suing for sexual harassment and battery after she says a co-worker assaulted her.
The civil suit was filed a week ago. In the complaint, the former senior housekeeper claims she was sexually assaulted not once but twice in a first-floor room.
She says the employee that assaulted her didn’t just work at the motel, but lived there, too.
The former housekeeper, who we're calling Maria, claims she was sexually harassed, assaulted, ridiculed and forced to quit.
"No woman deserves to be treated like I was treated,” she said. “This has to stop at one point somehow.”
In May of 2017, Maria says while cleaning the room of another employee who was living on the premises, he threw her on the bed then sexually assaulted her with such force that she bled.
"The worst part is I could not tell anybody the first time he did this to me because I was afraid no one would believe me or that I was going to lose my job,” she said.
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She did not tell management. She did her best to steer clear of the man she says attacked her.
"Being a single mom, you know, I had to keep working,” she added.
Two months later, while cleaning the same room, Maria says the same employee offered her tea and a chance to sit down. She accepted but feared another encounter.
"He was getting close to me, putting his private parts right here in my ribs and I said stop,” she said. Maria ran to a nearby room and called Oceanside police. "I was thinking of all the things he did to me the first time and I said, ‘No, I can't let this happen again."
NBC 7 obtained a copy of the police report. In it are details of both alleged incidents. When the case went to trial the defendant was found not guilty of sexual penetration with force and attempted sexual battery.
Maria says work became intolerable, and that her hours were cut and co-workers had little sympathy.
"It was horrible it was really bad nobody looked at me the same everybody was like gossiping about me pointing at me,” she said.
It’s been two years since the alleged attack, but Maria isn’t giving up her fight.
"For justice. That's all that I was asking for. For justice,” she said.
Over the phone, the owner of the Motel Six didn't sound familiar with the lawsuit. He declined an interview, saying he wished not to comment to the media.
