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Public Safety

Ex-DeMaio Aide Who Claimed Sexual Harassment Arrested

Todd Bosnich in his Twitter profile picture.
Todd Bosnich in his Twitter profile picture.

Todd Bosnich, who claimed GOP congressional candidate Carl DeMaio sexually harassed him, was arrested Tuesday on charges of assaulting his mother last week, San Diego police said.

Around 7 p.m. on Friday, Bosnich got into an argument with his mother in the 14700 block of Caminito Vista Estrellado, police Lt. Kevin Mayer said in an email. During the argument, Bosnich allegedly pushed his mother, disabled her phone and threw a drinking glass at her.

The incident happened at her Del Mar home.

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San Diego police took Bosnich into custody at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at the same location, Mayer said. Bosnich was booked into jail about 11:45 a.m., according to the sheriff's jail website. He was arrested on battery and assault with a deadly weapon charges, Mayer said.

Bosnich, 29, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment. The jail website showed Tuesday night he was no longer in custody.

Mayer did not say why San Diego police responded to the incident in Del Mar, which is patrolled by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

Bosnich, DeMaio’s former policy director, went public on Oct. 10 in an interview with CNN alleging that DeMaio sexually harassed him for months and that he was fired for telling DeMaio to stop the behavior.

DeMaio, who lost the tight race for the 52nd Congressional District seat to Democratic Rep. Scott Peters, has insisted Bosnich is lying about the sexual misconduct. He also has said that Bosnich was fired for plagiarizing a pension report and accused him of being behind a break-in at the campaign headquarters in late May. Bosnich denies both claims.

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The District Attorney's Office last month said there was not enough evidence to file charges in the burglary at DeMaio's headquarters nor for the sexual harassment allegations.

This past Friday, beginning around 6 p.m., NBC San Diego and U-T San Diego published reports that Bosnich had more contact with the Peters campaign than previously disclosed. The information was based on search warrant affidavits that U-T San Diego said it asked the court to unseal.

Using those court records unsealed Friday, the news outlets reported Bosnich has been in contact with the Peters campaign since May 29. U-T San Diego reported Bosnich emailed "campaign strategy and campaign specific information" to Peters' campaign manager, MaryAnne Pintar, on that day.

Pintar turned those emails over to police two days later, according to the U-T.

Bosnich then met with Pintar on June 5 and gave her a copy of an interview he did with KFMB radio host Mike Slater in which he describes what he says DeMaio did to him, the U-T reported. CNN and other news outlets later came into possession of that interview. Bosnich also gave Pintar printed copies of the "DeMaio media plan," according to the U-T.

Pintar took the materials home, made copies of them and gave those copies to Peters, according to the U-T.

Peters told KPBS he never saw the materials and kept them in an envelope. He gave them to his wife because he was leaving town. She gave them to police.

Bosnich's allegations and the fallout from them dominated the final weeks of the race between Peters and DeMaio, who conceded Sunday night. As of Tuesday night, Peters was up by 5,924 votes, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters Office.

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