thanks for being with us on this Wednesday. I'm Raj Mathai and I'm Jessica Aguirre. She landed her dream job at UC Santa Cruz. Then she says she was sexually assaulted by a supervisor today, the University of California was hit with a lawsuit accusing the school of botching the investigation. And Retraumatizing the victim. Investigative reporter Hilda Gutierrez, sat down with the young woman, now telling her story for the first time. When Jocelyn Friedel reported the incident to her boss, she hoped the school would do the right thing. Instead, Jocelyn says she was forced to continue working with her attacker and even interview for a job with him. Life wasn't always easy for Jocelyn Friedel before heading to college at UC Santa Cruz, I was born to parents that had substance abuse problems, so I was like in and out of kinship, foster care for most of my life. And then in college I found like mentorship and the Stars program, the Stars program helps students who didn't take a traditional path to college, navigate the UC system. After graduating, Jocelyn was thrilled to land an internship, then a temporary job with a stars program. I felt I was happy to give back to the program that, like, just helped me succeed through college. Early last year, according to a new lawsuit filed by Friedel, she applied for two permanent positions within the UC system at the urging of her supervisor, Elizabeth Moya. Soon after, Jocelyn and Moya took a work trip to UC Santa Barbara, joined by another supervisor in the Stars program, Joshua Solis. After a day of work events, Jocelyn says Moya and Solis invited her out for drinks. He was just inebriated and just like having a hard time walking and talking and just getting like very in, in my in my personal space. Yeah. And when they got back to the hotel, she just followed us to our room. He didn't go up to his room. He was really drunk and like, stumbling. What did he do when he was in the room? Yeah. I don't really want to go into the details, but. Yeah, he definitely sexually assaulted me. According to the lawsuit, Moya went to take a shower, leaving Jocelyn Friedel alone with Solis. That's when she felt Solis stand behind her and cut her right breast with his hand, according to the lawsuit. He then grabbed her around the waist and pulled her on top of him as he fell backward onto the bed. After she pulled away, Solis then repeatedly asked Friedel to go to his hotel room with them, which she refused. Just shocked, you know, like I was shocked for months after that to for several months, just like it's a shocking experience to have that happen. Jocelyn says Solis told her she couldn't tell anyone about what happened, but the next week, she says she did tell someone her supervisor, Elizabeth Moya. According to the lawsuit. However, Moya questioned her several times about whether she was sure she wanted to report the sexual assault, so Jocelyn says she reported the incident directly to the University of California, assuming they would also file a police report. Moya didn't report the incident herself to the university for ten days, according to the lawsuit. I ended up reporting it before she reported it because I didn't have faith that she would report it. Jocelyn provided text messages that she says show she told Moya she didn't want to be alone with Solis, and she didn't think it was fair. If he was in her interview for the job, she had applied for. But according to the lawsuit, Solis kept working and the university kept him on the panel deciding whether Jocelyn would get a permanent job. She did not get either position when this person assaulted me, and now I have to talk to them and they have a decision in my future for my dream job. It just was a yeah, I felt kind of sick with the amount of information, how egregious the complaint was. They should have put him on suspension until the investigation was over. Tanya Gommerman is Jocelyn's attorney. This morning, they filed a lawsuit against the UC Regents and Joshua Solis alleging sexual harassment, sexual assault, and retaliation on the University of California told us it doesn't comment on pending litigation, and we couldn't reach Solis or Moya for comment. I've got to do a lot of therapy and yeah, it's affected my mental health a lot. Yeah, and my job prospects, my career, you know, I'm scared to go on campus. I'm scared to work on a campus. Jocelyn's attorney is asking the University of California to offer Jocelyn her job back. UC Regents wouldn't comment on whether Solis is still an employee at the university. With the investigative unit. I'm Hilda Gutierrez. All right, thank you, Hilda. Now, just moments ago, we received a statement from UC Santa Cruz that reads in part, quote, we strive to respond comprehensively and effectively when we learn of allegations with the goal of protecting everyone in our community, anyone in our community who has been the victim of sexual violence or sexual harassment should reach out to our title nine office. Now, if you have a story for Hilda or anyone, our investigative unit, you can call
