A Los Angeles woman said Tuesday that former Congressman Eric Swalwell drugged and raped her in a West Hollywood hotel room in 2018. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed it has opened an investigation.
Lonna Drewes held a press conference in Beverly Hills alongside attorney Lisa Bloom. She said she met Swalwell three times after he offered to help build connections for her software company.
The third meeting started as a political event. Swalwell told her he needed to retrieve paperwork from his hotel room.
“I believe he drugged my drink,” Drewes said. “I only had one glass of wine.”
She said she was already unable to move by the time she entered the room.
“When I arrived at his hotel room, I was already incapacitated, and I couldn’t move my arms or my body,” Drewes said. “He raped me and he choked me, and while he was choking me, I lost consciousness, and I thought I died.”
Drewes said she was in a relationship at the time and Swalwell’s wife was pregnant. She said she would never have engaged in a consensual sexual encounter with him.
She said she did not undergo a rape kit. She said she did disclose the assault to people close to her and documented it in a personal calendar, therapy records, photographs, and journal entries. She said the assault was also documented by a Connecticut treatment center specializing in sexual assault survivors.
Drewes said she did not come forward sooner because of Swalwell’s political power, his background as an attorney, his family’s law enforcement ties — his father was a police officer — and her own aspirations to run for city council.
“It had a profound impact on my mental health,” she said.
The LASD confirmed its Special Victims Bureau is investigating a case involving a female adult who reported being sexually assaulted by Swalwell in July 2018 at a business in West Hollywood. The department said once the investigation is complete, the case will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration.
Bloom: ‘Own your behavior’
Bloom said three additional women have contacted her office with allegations against Swalwell.
She addressed Swalwell directly at the press conference.
“Your recent statement that you are just not perfect, you are not a saint, is just blather and spin,” Bloom said. “Stop it. Your statement that this is all just a matter between you and your wife is laughable if not for the fact that it is a slap in the face to the victims.”
“Own your behavior,” Bloom said.
Swalwell denies all allegations
Swalwell’s attorney, Sara Azari, issued a statement calling the allegations false.
“These accusations are false, fabricated, and deeply offensive — a calculated and transparent political hit job designed to destroy the reputation of a man who has spent twenty years in public service,” Azari said.
Drewes’ allegations are the latest in a cascade of sexual misconduct accusations that have unraveled Swalwell’s political career in recent days. The San Francisco Chronicle last week published an account from a former staffer who said Swalwell sexually assaulted her twice when she was too intoxicated to consent. Two other women told CBS News that Swalwell sent them unsolicited explicit messages on Snapchat.
Swalwell is also under criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in connection with a separate alleged assault.
He suspended his campaign for California governor on Sunday and resigned from Congress Tuesday. His resignation ended the House Ethics Committee’s investigatory jurisdiction over his case.
The LASD investigation is ongoing.
West Hollywood is getting quite the headlines lately!