A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges longtime Rio Grande Valley political operative Aron Peña III sexually assaulted a woman this summer, part of an alleged 12-year history of abuse the suit claims was aided and abetted by Peña’s sister, Hidalgo County Republican Party Chair Adrienne Peña-Garza.
U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores’ campaign confirmed last month that Peña resigned as district director after multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him surfaced.
The allegations and their fallout were widely reported by The Texas Tribune, Texas Public Radio and The Monitor.
Peña has denied those allegations, saying he resigned for health reasons.
Wednesday’s suit was filed by Cadence Vaughan, who graduated from high school in May and was involved with the Hidalgo County Teenage Republicans.
Vaughan alleges that while Peña was driving her home from a political function in July, he forcefully kissed her and touched her thigh despite her recoiling and telling him to stop. It claims Peña-Garza was largely indifferent to that assault and more concerned with her brother’s political value.
“Defendant Adrienne and the local Hidalgo County GOP which she controls, keeps Defendant Aron, a predator, on the loose and feeds him young interns because he serves their interest as a political bully,” the lawsuit said.
Peña said he was not aware of the suit when he was contacted by The Monitor on Wednesday. The call appeared to drop and subsequent attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
Peña-Garza did not respond to requests for comment.
Vaughan is suing Peña and Peña-Garza and asking for a monetary compensation between $200,000 and $1 million for mental pain and anguish from the alleged assault, which she says followed almost a year of “stalking and unrequited advances.”
The suit alleges Peña began flirting with Vaughan in early 2022 — while she was still in high school — following her around at political events, taking photos of her and offering her drinks despite the fact that she was under the age of 21.
Those interactions, it alleges, were followed by Peña asking Vaughn to go clubbing in downtown McAllen and asking her to “send him photos of herself, snapchat with him, and go to dinner with him.”
Vaughn became uncomfortable around Peña, the suit says. However, Peña allegedly told Vaughan and a friend that he needed to drive them to and from events or they wouldn’t be allowed to attend.
According to the suit, Peña and Peña-Garza made the political power of their family well-known, and Vaughan and her friend were “afraid that Defendant Aron and his sister would expel them from future activities and future employment.”
Vaughan and her friend would insist on Peña dropping off Vaughan first after events, the suit says, as a way to prevent Peña from being alone with her.
After an event in July, however, the suit alleges that Peña refused to drop off Vaughan first and took a longer route to artificially stretch out the ten-minute solo ride to her home, allegedly asking Vaughan to call her parents and tell them she needed to work late.
The suit says Vaughan refused, but Peña’s advances continued.
While driving, Peña “began to place his hands on [Vaughan’s] thighs and moved them toward her inner thighs. The plaintiff recoiled and told him to ‘STOP,’” the suit says.
Peña allegedly laughed, telling Vaughan not to take it seriously.
“Shortly thereafter they stopped at a red light. While at this red light Defendant Aron reached over grabbed [Vaughan] and pulled her towards him and forced a kiss,” the suit said. “The plaintiff pushed him away trying to get away from the situation without upsetting Defendant Aron too much, because she was afraid of what this older man would do to her if she escalated her refusal. Defendant Aron responded to this with a smile and stated, ‘let’s do more.’”
Vaughan told Peña her parents were strict and that she had to get home, the suit said.
The events in the suit square with an account published by the The Texas Tribune in which Peña allegedly kissed and touched an intern in July while driving her home despite her asking him to stop.
The Tribune reported that Peña did not deny the incident taking place but instead said that the intern started it and it was consensual.
The suit makes a variety of other allegations about Peña’s relationships with young girls. Peña-Garza, it claims, knew of allegations of abuse and took no action, keeping her brother in positions of political power that allowed misconduct to continue.
“She was aware of the assaults and harassment but did nothing to protect any of the young girls which her brother victimized,” it reads. “In fact, instead of protecting these girls she made an effort to protect her brother by covering up for his indiscretions and attacked any victim that had the courage to report her brother’s abuse…perpetrated on these young girls whose only crime was wanting to be involved in the democratic process.”
Faced with significant criticism over the abuse allegations, the suit alleges that Peña and Peña-Garza have begun a campaign against Vaughan, criticizing her character and describing reporting on the alleged assault as political ammunition for the left and the far right.
