POLITICS

Ohio lawmaker admits to inappropriate texts but denies kissing, choking primary opponent

Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - A Republican state lawmaker admits he sent flirtatious, inappropriate text messages to a female constituent who is now challenging him in the May 8 primary.

Rep. Rick Perales, R-Beavercreek, told The Enquirer his relationship with Fairborn's Jocelyn Smith amounted to "purely flirtatious and inappropriate texting" in early 2015, when the two met several times to discuss policy issues.

But Smith said Perales' inappropriate behavior went much further. She accuses him of kissing and choking her in his vehicle in 2015.

"All he wanted to talk about was sex," she said of one 2015 meeting, when she said she wanted to talk about workplace safety for nurses. Perales suggested the two get in his vehicle to escape the cold, she said.

"He kissed me, he put his hand around my neck, and he squeezed really hard," she said Monday in an interview. "I was shocked. ... This was my state representative. This was my go-to person."

Perales, a married father of four, said he did not attack Smith and denied any physical contact. No police report was filed. Later, when Smith wanted to talk with a lawmaker about creating a license plate for pancreatic cancer, she eventually went to another state representative.

Perales said he sent Smith messages but never sent her inappropriate images. He said he received some images from Smith.

Smith declined to discuss the content of messages she sent Perales, but said she did respond to his texts. His texts, she said, contained sexual content.

"When someone is texting you, I was humoring him," she said. "He used his position. He used his power.

"What are you going to do? You try to play along, but at some point you say, 'Enough is enough.' "

A spokesman for Ohio Speaker Cliff Rosenberger said the House's leader had spoken with Perales about the inappropriate texting. However, Rosenberger just learned about the allegations of choking, spokesman Brad Miller said.

"He and leadership will have a discussion about this," Miller said of the speaker. "He’ll take all of this very seriously."

Smith reached out to Rosenberger’s office in August 2016, concerned about her inability to get help from Perales on the pancreatic cancer license plate. She expressed concern that a Rosenberger aide described her situation as “drama,” according to an email obtained by The Enquirer in a public records request. The email did not detail allegations of assault.

Smith also emailed Perales’ aide, concerned about delays in setting up a meeting with the lawmaker and with state Sen. Bob Hackett, R-London. Hackett was in the Ohio House at the time and was working on the license plate bill.

In both of the emails, Smith refers to an "affair," at one point saying the affair "didn't work." This was a reference to Smith's interactions with Perales, a spokesman for Smith's campaign told The Enquirer on Tuesday.

Smith, a 36-year-old registered nurse, is holding a press conference Tuesday to discuss her bid to unseat Perales in the GOP primary. The winner will face Democrat Kim McCarthy.

"Our system is anyone can run," Perales said of Smith's Ohio House bid. "I will take responsibility for my actions."

Smith is calling on Perales to resign. If he does not, she says, she will release text messages he sent her.

"He knows what he said, and he knows what he did," she said. She declined to provide the text messages to The Enquirer.

The Dayton Daily News, which first talked with Smith, also detailed her history with the Clark County Sheriff's Office, where she worked before being dismissed. She was fired in 2008 after being accused of showing three male co-workers a topless photo of herself. Smith disputes the accusation. She sued and was reinstated.

She was dismissed again later that year for pointing pepper spray in an inmate’s face as a joke and other alleged infractions.

Perales was involved in a Dayton bar altercation in 2013. He was talking with a woman when a man started calling her names, according to a Dayton Daily News report at the time. When Perales intervened, the man punched him and knocked him to the floor.

Perales told the Dayton Daily News that he defended himself, but no police report was taken from the incident.