Christina Cardenas won a $5.6 million settlement five years after she underwent a strip search while visiting her incarcerated husband, which she said was a ‘sexual violation.’

After filing a civil lawsuit four years ago, the wife of a California inmate won a $5.6 million settlement concerning an unlawful strip search conducted by the correctional officers during a family visit, according to her attorney.

Christina Cardenas sued the California Correctional Institution (CCI), the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR), and Adventist Health Tehachapi over the incident that occurred on Sept. 6, 2019, attorney Gloria Allred said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY.

“There is no recompense that can ever fully heal the pain caused by the sexual violation on Sept. 6th, 2019,” Cardenas said in a statement emailed Tuesday to USA TODAY.

USA TODAY contacted the CDCR and Adventist Health on Tuesday but did not receive a response.

What happened to Christina Cardenas on Sept. 6, 2019?

On the day of the strip search, Cardenas went to a CCI facility for a scheduled family visit with her husband, Carlos Eugene Cardenas, according to Allred. Cardenas traveled four hours to see her husband for their first scheduled visit in about one year as the previous one four weeks before the incident had been canceled without any notice, the attorney said.

When Cardenas arrived at the facility, she was escorted to the back right-hand side of the visiting office, Allred said. She was subsequently interrogated and asked if she “brought anything with her” and whether she “brought any drugs in,” according to the attorney who said her client truthfully denied both questions.

The “emotional damages” began when an officer confirmed to Cardenas that she would be strip-searched, which brought back feelings of when she was the “victim of an unwarranted, degrading and traumatizing search by the State of California on the day of her marriage to her husband,” according to Allred.

“The warrant did limit the scope of potential search in the absence of Christina’s consent, and Christina did not consent to an invasive search of her body,” the attorney said. “It was explicit in the warrant that a body cavity search could only be conducted after an X-ray confirmation of the presence of a foreign object likely to be contraband in the body cavity of Christina.”

Officers told Christina Cardenas to ‘wipe away your tears!’, attorney says

Allred said the officers attempted to intimidate her client by screaming at her, “Oh wipe away your tears! You know what you and your husband have been doing!” Cardenas responded, “Don’t tell me to wipe away my tears, I am innocent, and what you are saying to me is inappropriate,” according to the attorney.

Shortly after the back-and-forth, Cardenas was left in a small room with three officers. While in the room, she was “unlawfully examined by the officers, first by opening her mouth and sticking out her tongue, then by showing her ears and turning her head upside down to shake out her hair,” Allred said, adding that no contraband was found during this part of the search.

Cardenas was told next to remove her top, sports bra and bra, according to Allred. She was then instructed to remove her pants and undergarments, which at this point left her “breasts and genitalia completely exposed,” the attorney said. No contraband was found during this part of the search either.

Officers made Cardenas squat over a mirror placed on the ground and cough, and although she did this, they made her squat wider apart and physically spread her genitalia, according to Allred. Again, no contraband was found so the officers told her to get dressed and sit back down until further instruction, the attorney said.

Before being denied the restroom, an officer asked Cardenas, “Why do you visit, Christina? You don’t have to visit. It’s a choice, and this is part of visiting,” Allred said.

Christina Cardenas sexually assaulted by male doctor at Adventist Health

When officers took Cardenas to Adventist Health’s Emergency Department for possible “emergency surgery,” she was “perp walked” to the back of the hospital, told to complete an unwanted pregnancy test and forced to “urinate in a makeshift toilet consisting of a chair and exposed urinal pan,” according to Allred.

While handcuffed for hours, Cardenas had to answer personal medical history questions in front of officers, which violated her rights to privacy and HIPAA protections, her attorney said. She was also denied water and food, while the officers supervising her snacked and chatted, Allred added.

A handcuffed Cardenas underwent an illegal CT-Scan and X-ray at the hospital, which involved her crying as she lowered her pants in front of Adventist Health and CCI employees, according to Allred. After all these measures to ensure she did not have a foreign substance in her body, a male doctor then sexually assaulted her, the attorney said.

“Christina stated that she was not OK with a male probing her body and that a male probing of her body would be very retraumatizing to her,” Allred said. “Notwithstanding Christina’s objections and protests, the male doctor continued and an officer remained in the room during the unwanted and forceful penetration.”

“Christina was sobbing uncontrollably and in a clear and visibly distressed state as she was forced to sit on a table and spread her legs.”

‘This serves as a beacon to all family and loved ones of the incarcerated’

When Cardenas was driven back to the CCI facility for the scheduled visit, an officer told her the visit had been canceled, according to Allred. She was also forced to pay for the “state-sanctioned torture,” the attorney said.

“My motivation in pursuing this lawsuit was to ensure that others do not have to endure the same egregious offenses that I experienced,” Cardenas said in her statement. “I pray that this landmark settlement serves as a resounding message to all correctional officers that harmful behavior will NOT be tolerated. It is crucial to treat visitors not as criminals, but with humanity and respect for their human rights.”

“I also hope that this serves as a beacon to all family and loved ones of the incarcerated, reminding them that they do not have to endure abuse simply because they are visiting a family member or friend… It is crucial not to criminalize or victimize those who are visiting and supporting true rehabilitation.”

Four men were arrested and charged with kidnapping migrants who had been smuggled into the United States and demanding their relatives pay ransom for their release, officials said Monday.

The men have pleaded not guilty after they were arraigned on an indictment, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said. A fifth man has been charged in the case but remains a fugitive, prosecutors said in a statement.

The defendants took the four migrants from an Arizona gas station last year and later held them hostage at a house in California, prosecutors said. The suspects allegedly used one of the hostage’s cellphones to demand ransom money from the victim’s family member in exchange for their release. 

Three of the hostages were later moved to a motel where one escaped through a second-story bathroom window and ran to a nearby store, the statement said. One of the suspects followed him and “body-slammed the victim, placed him in a chokehold, and punched him repeatedly in the face in an attempt to re-kidnap him,” the statement said.

The defendants were identified as Miguel Angel Avila, 22, of Hemet; Omar Avila Salmeron, 41, of South Los Angeles; Jose Jaime Garcia, 20, of San Jacinto; Gabriel Michel Becerra, 22, of Palmdale; and Jose Alfredo Moreno Gonzalez, 21, of Oak Hills. Becerra is currently a fugitive.

“These defendants allegedly preyed upon victims who sought to emigrate to our country by demanding ransom from the victims’ families in exchange for their release,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of the Central District of California said in a statement.

On March 23, 2023, Avila, Garcia and Becerra allegedly drove one of the hostages to a gas station, where they took $11,000 in cash from the victim’s brother in exchange for the victim’s release.

Migrants seeking to cross into the United States are frequently kidnapped by gangs and drug cartels in Mexico, and are also known to be vulnerable to kidnappings in the United States.

A California state senator has been accused of sexually harassing a staffer by pressuring him to perform sex acts – including to the point of injury – and firing him when he resisted.

Marie Alvarado-Gil’s former chief of staff Chad Condit accused both the senator and the California State Senate of discrimination in violation of employment law in a Sacramento Superior Court suit filed last week.

In the 39-page complaint – seen by Sky News – Mr Condit alleges Ms Alvarado-Gil groomed him and throughout his employment he was asked to perform sexual favours.

On the last occasion, where he alleges he was pressured to perform a sex act on the senator in the back of a car, Mr Condit claims he suffered three herniated discs in his back and a collapsed hip, which he said required surgery.

Speaking to POLITICO, Ognian Gavrilov, representing Ms Alvarado- Gil, said the accusations are “without any corroboration of evidence”.

He said: “This is an outlandish lawsuit and we’re going to fight it and we’re going to win it.”

According to the complaint, Mr Condit met Ms Alvarado-Gil in 2022 after he failed to win a primary election for the California assembly. She was elected as state senator that year and proceeded to bring Mr Condit on as her chief of staff.

He then alleges the senator began “grooming” him with intimate details of her personal life, and claimed Ms Alvarado-Gil told him she believed he would be more like his father, Gary Condit, a former Democratic Californian representative who had admitted to police he had affairs with multiple younger women. One of them, intern Chandra Levy, disappeared in 2001. Her decomposed body was found a year later, although Condit was cleared of any involvement.

In his complaint, Chad Condit alleged Ms Alvarado-Gil would also have him carry out personal errands such as driving her children and caring for her dog by January last year.

It reads: “This growing control and exercise of power by [Ms Alvarado-Gil] further conditioned [Mr Condit] into an unequal and subservient position.”

He then alleges that “after months of creating a dominant-submissive relationship” – including Ms Alvarado-Gil hiring his wife to her campaign in March 2023 – the state senator initiated sexual advances during a trip to Inyo County.

“[Mr Condit] was numbed and acted without thinking and it went from there with [Ms Alvarado-Gil] establishing her ability to dominate him,” the suit reads.

“[Mr Condit] briefly performed as demanded until she was satisfied by his submission to her.”

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When the former staffer began pushing back against the senator’s advances, Mr Condit alleged Ms Alvarado-Gil was “unhappy with him” but continued to make inappropriate comments to him.

He then claims Ms Alvarado-Gil retaliated to his refusal to participate in sexual acts by prompting the state Senate’s human resources representative to reprimand him, as well as allegedly going to his home to accuse him of cheating in front of his wife.

Mr Condit also claimed Vanessa Bravo, Ms Alvarado-Gil’s current chief of staff and a childhood friend, “proved herself tolerant and supportive” of her discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

He alleged he was given a notice of termination from the state senate in December, and said his “employment record and opportunities in public employment are irreparably damaged and will never be the same”.

Mr Condit is seeking compensation over the allegations, including lost wages, loss of earning capacity, employee benefits and damages for emotional distress.