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Stanford scholar accuses distinguished San Francisco activist of rape

Content warning: This article contains references to rape and sexual assault.

Stanford student Sasha Perigo made rape allegations against San Francisco activist Jon Jacobo on Friday morning. Jacobo is a prominent community leader and organizer who is focused on COVID-19 work with the city’s Latino Task Force.

The alleged attack occurred on the morning of April 4, which Perigo described in a seven-page document attached to her original tweet. After a drunken evening, Perigo decided to spend the night with Jacobo. Although Jacobo, a friend, had told a friend several times that she did not want to have sex, Jacobo pressured her that night and raped her the next morning when they were both sober, Perigo claimed.

Neither Perigo nor Jacobo responded to a request for comment. But in a statement released on Friday afternoon, Jacobo wrote that he remembers that night with Perigo differently and wrote that the relationship was “completely consensual”.

Despite his different portrayal of the events, Jacobo was given leave of absence from his work and left the building supervision committee.

“After much deliberation, I decide to speak publicly about my attack, especially because Jon has such a large platform. Jon is no longer allowed to use his platform to harass women, ”Perigo wrote in her public statement, which included screenshots of text messages and a police report.

“One of the reasons I kept this story to myself for so long is that I didn’t mean to hurt Jon by speaking up. I took great care of him and it will break my heart forever that someone I once admired could hurt me this way, ”she added. “But going on means accepting that Jon isn’t who I thought he was. I have to free myself from the burden of protecting him from the consequences. “

According to Perigo, she wasn’t the only one to have seen this type of behavior from Jacobo. Weeks later, Perigo wrote that she learned that Jacobo “not only crossed the lines with other women in the past, but continued to do so” after the two had talked.

Perigo is a housing activist in San Francisco. She currently works as a digital organizer for Tenants Together and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Perigo told Mission Local, a local San Francisco news site, that she is taking a graduation course to complete her studies at Stanford, despite being listed as an alumna on her Twitter bio. A Stanford spokeswoman confirmed that she is enrolled as a student.

Jacobo is also a housing activist and is hired by the San Francisco Mayor’s Office and currently serves as the health chair of the Latino Task Force he co-founded to help the Mission District through the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also the political director of the affordable housing nonprofit TODCO. He is known for helping marginalized communities fight COVID-19.

The allegations are another blow to a city already embroiled in controversy two days after it was revealed that San Francisco Mayor London Breed would be fined nearly $ 23,000 for ethics violations. The news also comes three days after a New York State investigative report found that Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually molested several women.

Politicians and community organizations in the city generally expressed their support for Perigo – including District 9 BART board member Bevan Dufty, District 6 supervisor Matt Haney, and board member Shamann Walton – or at least were reluctant to fully support Jacobo.

Calle 24, the cultural non-profit of which Jacobo is vice-president, issued a statement Friday afternoon on the allegations against Jacobo: “As an organization, our values ​​are aligned with accountability and justice. Please take your time for our process. ”

The Latino Task Force, TODCO and the San Francisco Mayor’s Office have not yet released statements on the allegations. They did not respond to The Daily ‘s request for comment.

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