San Francisco Dem star rocked by allegation he groped ex-pal at party as political allies pull support
A well-connected San Francisco activist turned political candidate is facing an allegation that he groped an acquaintance at a party in 2020.Manny Yekutiel, a cafe owner who’s hosted top Dems like Kamala Harris, Gov.Gavin Newsom and former First Lady Jill Biden at his Mission District hotspot Manny’s Cafe, is facing the upsetting sexual assault claim as he campaigns to represent the famed Castro neighborhood on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Brad Chapin, a city gardener, alleged that Yekutiel brazenly accosted him at a house party in 2020 — grabbing his testicles before insulting his physique in claims first detailed by the San Francisco Standard.Chapin alleged that a “sweating” Yekutiel approached him at a February 2020 party and painfully clenched his genitals “like an animal,” according to the report.
“He grabbed me, and I was trying to get away.He wouldn’t let me go,” Chapin told The Standard.
“He stuck one of his hands down my pants and grabbed me and was squeezing me and intentionally causing pain.“It was bizarre.
He literally had me by the testicles.It was intentionally sexually demeaning,” he added.
Chapin, also a progressive political activist, reportedly told friends about the alleged incident after the party and filed a police report in April — even wearing a police-issued recording device while confronting Yekutiel about the alleged assault, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.That confrontation did not produce any useful evidence, as Yekutiel denied the incident — and the investigation was marked “inactive,” the paper reported.
Text messages Chapin sent to friends about the alleged incident were reviewed by the Chronicle and Standard.Yekutiel, a Los Angeles native, gained fame as an influential Democratic organizer known for hosting political and civic discussions, phone banks, watch parties and other community events at his popular cafe.
The cafe became an essential stop for rising Democrats to hel...