San Antonio – Leon Valley City Council leader Benny Martinez successfully won re-election after he was ousted from office by previous city council members during a special hearing following several complaints made against him.
Eva Cervantes says she had no idea who Martinez was when she had an encounter with him at the San Antonio area church they both attend and volunteer for. Cervantes claims that on July 30, 2023, while she was volunteering as a camera operator, Martinez was sent to check a problem with her camera.
It was during that interaction that Cervantes says Martinez stood behind her in a small space and rubbed his crotch on her backside.
“I just feel somebody behind me, and I could feel his penis, his private parts. Obviously, with the pants on. And I feel it, but I cannot move because there’s a wall here and it’s a small square,” she explained.
Cervantes says she was frozen in panic and shock, not wanting to draw attention to her because the pastor was speaking. “The camera was on, red light, that means I’m live, I cannot move. And I was just there feeling him behind me,” she explained.
Cervantes and her husband took her complaint to church leaders. She says she was told to stay quiet about the incident until they completed an internal investigation. She provided KSAT with an August 2023 email she received from church leaders explaining steps that would be taken to keep Martinez and her in separate volunteer schedules, as well as requiring him to “give all people appropriate personal space,” while at church.
KSAT has decided not to name the church at this time since no legal action has been taken against the church in connection with Cervantes’ claim. The church did issue a one-page statement. In it, they said, “We immediately took prudent steps to establish physical boundaries surrounding our cameras.”
According to the church statement, there was an internal investigation.
“The circumstances of the alleged incident took place in a highly public setting with hundreds of people present and none of those to whom we spoke, and who were specifically watching the interaction, saw anything inappropriate other than an encroachment upon personal space,” the statement said.
In February 2024 Cervantes filed a police report with San Antonio Police. Her incident report sounds similar to what Catherine Rodriguez described during an interview with KSAT in 2018. Rodriguez was a councilwoman at the time and was one of several people who filed complaints against the city for allegations of sexual and workplace harassment.
Rodriguez lost her seat and said she was subject to a lot of public shaming because she spoke up.
“Sometimes I think maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. But I couldn’t stay quiet because it was going to happen. It was going to happen to somebody else,” she explained.
In 2018 Martinez was the subject of a special city council hearing after half a dozen City of Leon Valley workers filed complaints against him alleging, he created a hostile work environment. Rodriguez accused him of sexual harassment.
In 2019, the city council voted 2-1 to remove Martinez from office in connection with charter violations, but that hearing did not address any of the sexual misconduct made by Rodriguez, so her claims were never proven or disproven. The council said the then-councilwoman waited too long to file her complaint.
Cervantes says it wasn’t until after she heard someone at church mention Martinez’s connection to Leon Valley that she did an online search and found Rodriguez’s account of what happened to her. That’s when she was encouraged to speak up about her claims publicly.
“Then I was like, then I’m not crazy it this happened to me, and people tried to say no, no, no,” she said.
Cervantes says she was removed from the volunteer position she’s held without prior complaints for seven years. Comments made by other church volunteers, she said, led her to believe it was retaliation for her speaking up against Martinez.
The church confirmed Martinez was no longer a volunteer but does continue to attend the church, and as part of their statement added, “It would not be appropriate for us to make further comments about our church members.”
KSAT reached out to Martinez by email and left a message with city staff requesting a call back. We reached him by phone and he denied any wrongdoing.
“You know for a fact that the stuff Catherine accused me of was all lies,” he said. “This Eva stuff is all lies it happened a year ago and nothing happened,” he said over the phone. But he declined to sit down with KSAT for a formal interview.
Both women say they felt horrible and alone when they opened up to those around them but wanted to be on the public record.
Regarding the July 2023 complaint by Cervantes at the church, SAPD said in an email, “This case is still open and under investigation. The case is currently being investigated as an Assault-Contact, as that is the most appropriate offense based on the description given by the victim.”
The church’s statement indicates they have not been contacted by local authorities but will cooperate openly if they are. Martinez has never been criminally charged in connection with any of the women’s allegations.