10:00 PM PST on Thursday, January 7, 2010

By IMRAN GHORI
The Press-Enterprise

A Redlands woman whose sexual harassment complaint against San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos triggered an investigation is seeking $1.5 million in a claim filed Wednesday.

Cheryl Ristow, an investigative technician with the district attorney’s office, states that she was involved in a 17-month intimate relationship with Ramos that ended in 2005. She claims that she was retaliated against starting in May when it appeared that the affair would be publicly revealed, and has been on stress leave since July as a result.

Ramos issued a brief statement Thursday denying the allegations.

“I continue to vigorously deny these false and politically-motivated accusations and look forward to the truth coming out in a court of law,” he said.

In a phone interview Thursday, Ristow said, “I stand behind my story 100 percent.”

The county began an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation in August when an employee in the office came forward with a complaint against Ramos. Ristow’s claim identifies herself as the person who came forward with the complaint.

Ristow said in the claim that she and Ramos continued a distant working relationship when the personal relationship ended. That changed in May, she said, when Ramos told her that news of the affair was going to appear in a newspaper article that accused him of multiple affairs.

A month later, Ristow said, she received disciplinary write-ups for “things in the past that were trivial” by a supervisor whom she had asked for advice on the situation.

Ristow also states that around June or July, a senior investigator for the district attorney told her that if she came forward, she would “tank” the office’s case against former Assistant Assessor Jim Erwin.

To read entire story, click here.