GREELEY, Colo. — A state lawmaker who stepped down amidst of a recall effort has been cited for providing alcohol to a minor. Former State Rep. Rochelle Galindo was also accused of sexual assault in a separate police report but not charged.
The 29-year-old Democrat was elected last November to serve District 50 in Greeley but soon came under fire from recall activists angry over her votes to further regulate the oil and gas industry.
The first-term representative vowed to fight the recall effort before suddenly resigning May 12 with a vague statement that read,
“The allegations against me are false. That said, they will make our fight against the pending recall effort untenable. I will not put my constituents through what will surely be a recall campaign based on political smear tactics and false allegations. Instead, I will resign my seat as the elected representative of House District 50, effective immediately.”
The exact nature of the allegations were unknown until Thursday, when the Greeley Police Department agreed to release a 21-page redacted report to FOX31.
The investigation began May 6.
Detectives soon interviewed a 19-year-old staffer who told them during the campaign Galindo would get the teenager to “Drink alcohol and smoke marijuana” and “would get really drunk and the sex would happen,” adding she “didn’t remember much about the incidents but felt she was being taken advantage of.”
The campaign volunteer later told detectives she “did not want to be the prosecuting party in the case…even if the evidence sustained it.”
Police later determined there wasn’t enough evidence against Galindo, partly because texts reviewed by detectives did not support the accuser’s allegations.
But nearly a week later on May 15, police took a new report from a different teenager, a minor under the age of 18, who claimed Galindo and a campaign worker provided the teen with alcohol.
Both Galindo and a 22-year-old campaign staffer named Fabio Cordeiro were given a criminal summons for providing a minor with alcohol.
Galindo was not home when FOX31 visited her house Thursday afternoon, but a woman who identified herself as Galindo’s mother called the allegations “bogus.”
Neither Galindo nor her attorney have responded to messages left by FOX31.