According to a state commission, a family court judge in Tarrant County sexually harassed female colleagues

A family court judge in Tarrant County has been reprimanded by a state commission after being accused of sexually harassing female county employees and colleagues.

The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public reprimand to Judge Jesus “Jesse” Nevarez of the 231st District Court on June 21.

The sexual harassment in text messages began in December 2021, when Nevarez began sending personal messages to an associate judge in which he called her by pet names such as “baby,” “babies,” “sweetheart,” “baby” and “beautiful,” according to the written warning. He also told her in the messages that he loved her, the warning states.

In August 2022, the Associate Judge recorded a conversation about her resigning from her post. In the recording, Nevarez can be heard calling her a “baby” and trying to convince her to change her mind, the warning states. He can be heard saying that he has “loved her forever.”

In his testimony before the commission, Nevarez said he had been calling women, including his female colleagues, by pet names for 40 years. He was never informed that women would be uncomfortable being called those names or other behaviors, and he did not believe it constituted sexual harassment, the warning states. Although the associate judge said she tried to communicate her discomfort to Nevarez, he said she never informed him of it.

Nevarez testified that he and the associate judge were friends before she was sworn in. When the associate judge became his subordinate, Nevarez “failed to formalize their working relationship” and treated her as a friend, not a colleague, the warning states.

The judge further testified that the nature of their friendship changed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his deployment with the Texas State Guard and workload.

He was also accused of making comments about the associate judge’s clothing when she wore dresses to work. Nevarez said he made those comments because she did not always wear appropriate court attire, but he never reported it to human resources, the alert said.

According to the document, a family law attorney also claims that the judge made inappropriate advances toward her.

Nevarez gave the lawyer his private cell phone number and sent her a personal message via Facebook, the warning says.

When the attorney missed a 9 a.m. hearing, Nevarez conducted the proceedings without contacting her. He reportedly told her that if she had contacted him on his personal cell phone, he would not have held the hearing without her, which Nevarez denied. According to the commission, it is not standard practice in Tarrant County family courts to conduct a hearing without an attorney present.

The lawyer interpreted this as retaliation for not responding to Nevarez’s advances.

She felt the need to be accompanied by a paralegal or another attorney when she entered the same courtroom as Nevarez, the warning states. Nevarez denies ever sexually harassing the attorney, but admitted giving her his phone number and sending her a message on Facebook.

He stated that he provides his number to lawyers for questions and as a mentor, the alert said.

The commission reported that Nevarez has not received any sexual harassment training since receiving the complaint and has only attended training twice in the 11 years he has been a district judge.

The Commission will require him to attend four hours of training with a mentor within 60 days of receiving the notification, including two hours each on the topics of “conduct” and “sexual harassment”.