SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A state lawmaker, who represents residents from South Florida, is facing sexual allegations from two former staffers who have filed a lawsuit against him.
7News cameras captured Florida State Rep. Fabián Basabe at a town hall in Sunny Isles Beach, Thursday night.
The 45-year-old’s appearance at the event comes after a former intern and a former legislative aide accused him of groping the two men and using sexually explicit language.
The Republican lawmaker, who represents District 106, which extends from Aventura south to Miami Beach, took several questions from constituents at the town hall. The allegations did not come up as he spoke to the room.
In December 2022, the legislative aide alleges, he accompanied Basabe to North Beach Elementary School in Miami Beach.
In the back of a class filled with children, the aide alleges in the lawsuit, Basabe told him, “‘I want all of that butt!’ And then Basabe touched … buttocks by slapping it with his hand, which [the aide] found offensive, and which was without his consent.”
In a separate incident that took place before he started working as an intern for Basabe, the intern claims he drove an intoxicated Basabe home to a hotel where, the lawsuit claims, “Basabe began to physically touch and grope him and to grab at him to try to kiss him.”
The man alleges he told Basabe to stop.
According to the lawsuit, he felt the eventual internship was offered as an apology.
While working together, the two alleged victims allege that earlier this year, Basabe showed them “a photograph of a naked man on his (Basabe’s) phone.”
Basabe is also accused of hitting the aide in the face one time after drinking.
The intern, meanwhile, alleges that Basabe told him several times “that he should not marry his girlfriend/fiancée, whom he was to marry in May 2023, because the marriage would never last, and that [the intern] should explore his sexuality by having sex with men.”
The intern quit in March after, the lawsuit claims, “Basabe asked … if he had a “big [expletive].”
This is not the first time Basabe has had a run-in with the legal system. In 2020, before he was in office, the lawmaker was accused of snatching a woman’s phone from her hands and tossing it in the bay during a dispute over social distancing that was captured on surveillance video.
Basabe left Miami-Dade County and was captured by U.S. Marshals and arrested on a warrant in South Carolina.
Republican Florida House Speaker Paul Renner’s office acknowledged it received a sexual harassment complaint regarding Basabe.
Renner’s office said an outside lawyer will investigate the claims, stating further, “The Florida House has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment.”
Speaking with 7News Thursday night, Democratic Florida Sen. Jason Pizzo weighed in on the lawsuit.
“It’s insulting to us, to his colleagues that were in this situation, to even have to answer for it,” said Pizzo.
As for Basabe, as the town hall ended, he posed for pictures.
When asked about the lawsuit, he said, “I am here for the residents today. You can all make an appointment with my office.”
He later ignored cameras and reporters’ questions as he walked out of the venue.
Basabe’s attorney said he will not be commenting on the lawsuit calling it “both frivolous and meritless.”
The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $150,000.
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