Sex Case Against Consul Ended for Lack of Evidence

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has decided not to file charges against Guatemalan Consul General Federico Maffioli and his wife, who had been under investigation for allegedly luring a woman to their home in Downey and attempting to coax her into a sexual encounter.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Yglecias said prosecutors have insufficient evidence that Maffioli and his wife, Elizabeth, both 45, kissed and fondled an unidentified woman against her will.

“I am persuaded they engaged in a deliberate attempt to seduce this 23-year-old Guatemalan national,” Yglecias said. “[But] it was my conclusion that it would be very improbable that a jury of 12 impartial citizens would believe that these advances were indeed non-consensual.”

Attorney Mario E. Diaz, who represents the consul general, said Maffioli denies any of the allegations made by the woman.

According to Yglecias, the woman admitted posing topless for the couple and accompanying them to their bedroom, where she said she was kissed and fondled while a pornographic video was shown. Although she told authorities she had been uneasy with the couple’s alleged requests, she said she agreed to them after they promised to help her find a job, possibly modeling for a travel agency.

“Although she was very uncomfortable and did not want to do any of these things, she did not outwardly resist or protest,” the prosecutor said.

The woman told police she met Maffioli on Sept. 13 while visiting his Wilshire Boulevard offices to pick up visa papers for her daughter. During their conversation, she said that she told Maffioli she was jobless and that he asked for her telephone number to pass along to potential employers.

The next day, the woman reported, she received a call to come to a home in Downey to interview for a job. When she arrived, the woman told police she found Maffioli and another woman.

She maintained that the couple plied her with food, drink and compliments on her beauty. She said she eventually slipped away.

Maffioli “was quite taken back by the notoriety that was given to the allegation, being that there was little basis for it based on what we know from the police,” Diaz said of his client.

Detective Leslie Murray of the Downey Police Department said that on the afternoon of Sept. 14, officers came across a hysterical woman running along the street in a residential neighborhood. The woman led police to the Maffioli home, and the couple agreed to be interviewed but were not arrested.

Yglecias said the couple acknowledged that they had had a young woman over for lunch and that she had abruptly left in a somewhat distraught mood for an unknown reason.