As the watchers of Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher and her husband, Nathan Fletcher, have always suspected, they lie like rugs and then strong-arm the people around them to enable their deceit. Such is the case with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), and it may well cost them. 

When Nathan Fletcher was a District 4 San Diego Supervisor, he also was board chair for MTS. Fletcher has reneged on his marriage vows in the past, and in March of this year, it appeared he was doing it again. Former MTS staffer Grecia Figueroa filed a sexual harassment suit against Fletcher and the MTS, alleging sexual harassment, sexual assault, and whistleblower retaliation—she was terminated, then intimidated by Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher to drop the lawsuit. A former assemblyman, Nathan Fletcher had grand plans of returning back to Sacramento as a state senator. But just before the allegations broke, he abruptly ended his campaign and checked into rehab, supposedly due to PTSD from his years of military service. Fletcher also claimed that the affair between himself and Figueroa was consensual. San Diegans demanded Fletcher resign from the Board of Supervisors, and he eventually did; but not before finishing up his rehab on the taxpayer's dime. So on brand for the Fletchers.

The MTS Board played dumb, claiming they knew nothing about the allegations before Figueroa filed her lawsuit. MTS General Counsel Karen Landers told NBC 7 San Diego that, “None of the decision-makers involved in this personnel decision were aware of the allegations about Nathan Fletcher until after the decision to terminate Ms. Figueroa’s employment was communicated to her."

Landers further claimed that no one on the MTS Board, including Nathan Fletcher, had any involvement in terminating Figueroa. According to the statement, the March 28 filing of Ms. Figueroa’s lawsuit was the first time any of them had heard about it. RedState's suspicions have been confirmed by what amounts to another whistleblower allegation: this time from a woman named Emily Outlaw, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for MTS. In a claim form, which is a precursor to filing a formal lawsuit, Outlaw claims she was pressured to participate in a misinformation campaign against Grecia Figueroa and the citizens of San Diego County, and that the MTS Board wanted her to expose Figueroa's personal communications.

🚨 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: 𝐒𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐌𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐋

“𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑀𝑠. 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑎’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑠”, 𝑀𝑇𝑆 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝐼𝑇 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡… pic.twitter.com/ajN6JlxgBK

— 𝑍ᴀᴄᴋ Ꮹɪᴀɴɪɴᴏ (@ZackGianino) December 14, 2023

The X post from Fed Up With Fletcher creator Zack Gianino reads:

“𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑀𝑠. 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑎’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑠”, 𝑀𝑇𝑆 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝐼𝑇 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 (𝐶𝐼𝑂), “𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑀𝑠. 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑎’𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠” - 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐈𝐎 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲/𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝.  This is HUGE & validates/corroborates Ms. Figueroa’s case vs. SDMTS & (fmr. MTS Chair Sup.) Nathan Fletcher for Retaliation..  So let me get the straight….the @sdmts CIO disobeyed following illegal directives against Ms. Figueroa & is subsequently being punished for it  #InvestigateMTS

As our Managing Editor, Jennifer Van Laar, reported back in April, 

[.. G]iven what’s been revealed about Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher’s actions in the case with Grecia Figueroa, and knowing how the couple deals with people they consider political enemies, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Fletcher has sexually harassed many other women and that he and his wife have harassed, intimidated, and threatened them into silence.

While the jury is out on how many women have been victimized by the Fletchers, we now have evidence that MTS attempted to harass and intimidate Emily Outlaw on their behalf. 

The chief information officer for the Metropolitan Transit System claims the agency has retaliated against her because of her lack of cooperation in the wake of the scandal involving MTS’s former chairman, Nathan Fletcher, and a public relations employee, Grecia Figueroa.

The CIO, Emily Outlaw, filed a claim with the agency in late November that serves as a warning she and her attorney, Dan Gilleon, are going to file a lawsuit. Outlaw claims the agency’s managers misled the public about when they had learned about Figueroa’s accusations that Fletcher had assaulted and harassed her.

“Despite having known about Ms. Fugueroa’s allegations for several weeks, MTS enlisted Ms. Outlaw’s IT Department in its efforts to misinform the public about its prior knowledge, and to illegally search Ms. Figueroa’s private communications,” wrote Gilleon on a claim form, which must be filed before a formal lawsuit against a government agency can go forward.

The tort claim attachment details how the statement issued by Landers above was anything but the truth. 

The truth was that MTS had known about Ms. Figueroa’s claims since February 2023, when its Chief Human Resources Officer (“CHRO”), Jeff Stumbo, received an email and letter from Ms. Figueroa’s attorney, Zachary Schumaker. In his email and letter, dated February 17, 2023, Mr. Schumacher summarized his client’s “potential legal claims” that the former chair, “(1) discriminated against MS. FIGUEROA; (2) sexually harassed MS. FIGUEROA; (3) sexually assaulted MS. FIGUEROA; and (4) retaliated against MS. FIGUEROA because she complained or otherwise protested against sexual harassment that was perpetrated against her.”

According to the form attachment, this is where MTS made efforts to rope Outlaw into their chicanery.

Despite having known about Ms. Fugueroa’s allegations for several weeks, MTS enlisted Ms. Outlaw’s IT Department in its efforts to misinform the public about its prior knowledge, and to illegally search Ms. Figueroa’s private communications. For example, on April 3, 2023, MTS officials demanded that its CIO and her team obtain Ms. Figueroa’s “Jabber” messages on MTS’ network. When Ms. Outlaw refused, MTS officials went around her back to IT staff and asked them to hack into Ms. Figueroa’s Jabber account. Two weeks later, on April 19, 2023, MTS officials asked its CIO to prove that Mr. Schumacher’s email on February 17 had gone to the CHRO’s spam folder, and that Mr. Stumbo had not opened the email. However, during her investigation, Ms. Outlaw discovered not only had Mr. Stumbo received the February 17 email, but that the CHRO had forwarded it to MTS’ outside legal counsel.

Outlaw's attorney alleges that it was soon after Outlaw attempted to bring this to MTS' attention that they began to harass her and try to force her out of her position. A CIO position is imbued with great power: to protect the company's communications, assist in matters important to the organization, and to give them appropriate cover when necessary. However, the position can render great harm. We have yet to see how many buried bodies Outlaw might be willing to dig up. 

MTS is already in rocky waters with its poor handling of a bus worker strike, the rampant crime on public transit, as well as the awful treatment of Grecia Figueroa. MTS added insult to injury by attempting to cover for Nathan Fletcher, and now it appears to have retaliated against the one person who is capable of exposing its failures and cover-ups. And for what? A failed political power couple who continue to drive San Diego into the ground. The special election for Nathan Fletcher's County Board of Supervisors seat has already cost San Diego over $5 million. With this latest looming lawsuit, it looks like taxpayers are going to be on the hook for even more.