TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — The State Commission on Judicial Conduct has publicly warned a Tarrant County district judge after finding he reportedly engaged in a pattern of sexually harassing two of his peers.
In addition to the public warning, 231st District Court Judge Jesus Nevarez has been ordered to undergo four hours of required instruction -- two hours in the area of demeanor and two hours in the area of sexual harassment.
The findings listed in the warning state that a woman appointed as his associate judge was the target of sexually harassment by Nevarez for the eight years she served under him.
According to the document, Nevarez sent text messages between December 2021 and June 2022 to the associate judge late into the evening while referring to her as "babe," "babes," "hon," "baby" and "beautiful" in addition to telling her he loves her.
Per the warning, Nevarez reportedly sent texts along these lines multiple days in a row, even without receiving any response.
The associate judge eventually resigned in August 2022, the findings state. According to the warning, she reportedly made an audio recording of the conversation in which she submitted her resignation. Per the state's findings, Nevarez can be heard on the audio file referring to her as "baby" at least twice while trying to convince her to change her mind, as well as telling her that he has "loved [her] forever."
The document adds that two confidential sources reportedly said they personally witnessed Nevarez engaging in inappropriate conduct with the associate judge, and said they would hear from her about the uncomfortable positions Nevarez had put her in.
Nevarez testified during an informal appearance relating to these allegations that he and the former associate judge had become friends in law school prior to her working for him. But once she began as his associate judge, Nevarez said he erred in not formalizing their working relationship and instead treated her as a friend instead of a colleague, according to the report.
The report added that Nevarez would reportedly tell the associate judge that she looked "very nice" or saying "I like it; it looks good," when she wore dresses to work.
During his appearance, Nevarez reportedly admitted to having a 40-year pattern of referring to women, including his court staff and female attorneys, by pet names such as "babe," "baby," "hon" and "beautiful," and said multiple times that he needed to be informed this behavior was inappropriate, and that the associate judge never told him about her discomfort.
However, the report further detailed, the associate judge said she did try to tell Nevarez about her discomfort with his actions, at which point Nevarez reportedly told her "not to flatter herself."
A second victim, a family law attorney, also accused Nevarez of making inappropriate and unwanted personal advances toward her.
According to another former associate judge of Nevarez, the family law attorney confided in her that Nevarez's consistent advances toward her were so pronounced that she refused to enter his courtroom without being accompanied by another attorney or her paralegal, the report stated.
The report additionally added that Nevarez hasn't taken sexual harassment training yet since receiving the complaint, and has only attended the sexual harassment trainings twice in the 11 years since he has served as district judge.
