A 28-year-old former legislative aide for state Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, has filed a sexual harassment complaint against his former boss, saying Sachs routinely undressed in front of him in her Senate office.
Sachs, 67, flat-out denies the charge and claims the complaint is nothing more than an effort to dodge criminal charges. Aide Matthew Damsky, she says, got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and is using the sexual harassment complaint to "avoid accountability."
"... We are still calculating the depth of deception that resulted in a loss of at least $100,000 in charges that he racked up on credit cards in my name and the names of my family members, without our knowledge or approval," she wrote in a press statement released Monday. Damsky is under investigation by the FBI.
See "Statement by Florida Senator Maria Sachs" on this page.
Though the document is sealed, Damsky, of Boca Raton, filed his complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in late May or early June, according to Jose Lambiet's Gossip Extra.
"In it," wrote Lambiet, "Damsky claimed his boss of about one year, who is known in Tallahassee for her numerous changes of clothes during the work day, showed off her nude body to him while they were alone in her offices while she changed outfits."
Damsky's attorney is Miami-based Jonathan Etra of Broad and Cassell. He did not return Sunshine State News' phone call Monday.
Sachs, meanwhile, is about as connected to legal counsel as you can get. Not only does she have a law degreee herself, her husband is high-profile Palm Beach attorney Peter Sachs.
Serving two terms as a state representative from 2006, Maria Sachs successfully ran for senator in 2010. She announced in June she would not seek reelection, working instead at a non-profit she founded, the Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Lambiet revealed in his story that Damsky has been investigated by law enforcement before. In 2006, as a student at the University of Central Florida, he was charged with arson after he allegedly set fire to a couch in his dorm. "He told cops he hoped that the evacuation caused by the smoke would make it easier for him to meet co-eds," said Lambiet. "News reports at the time claimed he majored in dumbass."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
