Fletcher seeking texts between accuser and friend in sexual assault lawsuit

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Former San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher is asking the court in new filings to order the disclosure of communications about him between the ex-MTS employee who accused him of sexual misconduct and her best friend.

Fletcher began fighting to access these messages between Grecia Figueroa and the friend, identified as Danielle Radin, last year after she was named as one of three witnesses that were made aware of the alleged instances of sexual assault and harassment detailed in her lawsuit.

Radin, who is a Los Angeles-based journalist, previously worked at FOX 5 San Diego before the events at the center of the case transpired.

In a motion to compel filed on Monday, Fletcher’s attorneys said they believe these messages would affirm his recounting of their interactions as consensual.

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Some of these texts have been released to the former supervisor by Figueroa, although his attorneys contend that the entire trove of messages has yet to be produced. The existing messages, Fletcher says, were “incomplete, curated, and annotated.”

Fletcher specifically points to disclosed texts dated Nov. 4, 2021 and Aug. 31, 2022, saying that no communications were produced prior to the first message on Nov. 4 or during the 10-month period in between those days.

This is despite the claim in Figueroa’s lawsuit that communication with Fletcher began in early 2021 before escalating to the first instances of alleged sexual assault in the summer of 2022, according to the new filings.

The contents of the messages that have been disclosed were redacted from the new court documents due to an existing protective order in the case. However, his attorneys claim that “it was clear that other, prior communications concerning Mr. Fletcher existed.”

On Feb. 9, a subpoena was issued to Radin to obtain the remainder of these messages, although an attorney for the journalist said that she would not be disclosing the texts due to patient-counselor privileges. Radin is a purportedly a certified domestic violence counselor.

During a March hearing, Figueroa also mentioned this concern about releasing possibly privileged communications, saying she was under the impression that these texts were with the then-unnamed friend in her capacity as a counselor.

Radin has since parted ways with two attorneys, including her father who served as retained counsel. Figueroa similarly has cycled through two sets of attorneys before securing her current counsel last month — several weeks after she filed to represent herself, on March 22.

FOX 5/KUSI reached out to Figueroa’s new counsel and Radin for statement on the new filings and is awaiting response.

However, Figueroa has previously refuted the suggestion by Fletcher the two parties’ squabbles over what evidence should be included in the scope of the case were attempts to willfully withhold documents.

In an email sent to Fletcher’s attorneys the day before parting ways, one of Figueroa’s attorneys with The Pride Firm, Zachary Freire-Aviña, said: “At all relevant times, we have reminded you that discovery is ongoing, and Ms. Figueroa may amend her responses/production at any time as documents/things become known to her.”

He added that some delays had come in the course of seeking assurances that those materials would be protected by the court.

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“Ms. Figueroa has exercised good faith and diligence in the face of your office’s staggering 208 document requests — many of which refer to other documents/exhibits in contravention of discovery practices,” he continued.

A hearing in the case was previously scheduled for Friday, but it was continued to May 17 to provide time for Figueroa’s new counsel to meet with Fletcher’s. The civil trial in the case is scheduled to begin in early February 2025.

Fletcher also has an ongoing countersuit against Figueroa for defamation, alleging that she “knowingly and intentionally” made false statements while pursuing her lawsuit. The timeline for that case has not been laid out by the court.

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