Alameda County DA Encourages Potential Eric Swalwell Victims to Come Forward

Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said her office is ready to assist any potential victims of sexual assault by former East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell, but that none have reached out so far.

“It’s my job as DA to protect the rights of victims with everything that I have, so here’s what I need victims of sexual assault to know: You have agency,” Jones Dickson said during a Thursday press conference. “It is unfortunate that you have had to suffer this level of violence, but you have power and agency to make choices about what you do now.”

Swalwell was a top contender in the California governor’s race until multiple women came forward earlier this month to accuse him of sexual assault in reports published by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN. One of the alleged assaults reportedly took place in Alameda County.

Swalwell denied the accusations and vowed to fight them, but ended his candidacy and resigned from Congress soon after.

Prior to his career in politics, Swalwell worked as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, overlapping with Jones Dickson.

“If you don’t have a victim, you don’t have a case,” Jones Dickson said. But she added that her office would not proactively seek out victims to try to get them to testify because of both legal and ethical concerns.

“There are people that I know personally very well who have just been able to say out loud that they’re the victims of sexual assault after 30 years. So I don’t feel like we have the right to judge how people do what,” Jones Dickson said.

Jones Dickson encouraged victims to speak to a professional and pointed them to the county’s Trauma Recovery Center.

“If they feel the level of comfort to come at least to the Trauma Recovery Center, to call their therapist, to talk to a medical provider, to talk to a lawyer — it doesn’t have to be the DA’s office — to talk to law enforcement in another jurisdiction, there are all kinds of ways to start that process,” she said.

The county prosecutor also warned the public against calling “random hotlines” soliciting the stories of Swalwell’s potential victims. Her comment came as recalled Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price launched a hotline for Swalwell’s victims, alongside a separate tip line launched by U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.

“Just know that the information you provide to any hotline that is not a law enforcement hotline is not confidential. Your name is not confidential. That information is not confidential and is not coming to a law enforcement organization for purposes of report,” Jones Dickson said.