Two women accuse Queens official of sexual assault at a 2015 party
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Juan Ardila, current Queens assemblymember, has been accused of sexual misconduct by two women during a party in 2015. Photo courtesy Ardila’s campaign
By Ryan Schwach
Queens Assemblymember Juan Ardila has been accused by two women of sexual assault during a 2015 party shortly after he had graduated college.
The two women, who both attended Fordham University at Lincoln Center at the same time as Ardila, allege that at a party in October of 2015, the current assemblymember for Long Island City, Sunnyside, Maspeth and Ridgewood, but at the time a recent graduate of the school, sexually harassed one of them and attempted to pull her into a bathroom, then later in the night pulled another woman into the bathroom and assaulted her.
The first victim, who reached out to the Eagle and also spoke to the Queens Chronicle on the condition of anonymity, alleges that while she was drunk, Ardila attempted to pull her into a bathroom before a friend intervened.
The first victim was also sent a communication from the second victim in which the second victim claims Ardila pulled her into the bathroom and forcibly kissed her and removed his pants.
The first victim, who was 21-years-old at the time, said the night of the party she was heavily intoxicated. Ardila was allegedly also at the party and had previously had no interactions with the first victim.
The first victim said she remembers sitting on the couch next to Ardila, and remembers him being “very close” to her and “touchy.”
“I was the most intoxicated person there,” she recalled.
“But I do remember being on the couch, in the living room kind of away from everyone else, with Juan and it was towards the very end of the night, so people were starting to leave and the party didn't feel as crowded,” she added. “I remember he and I were close to each other, and he started getting physical with me.”
At that point, she said her memory cuts out. Her friend, who also wished to remain anonymous, says she saw Ardila pulling the first victim into the bathroom, and decided to intervene.
“They crossed paths with me and I saw [the first victim] way beyond the ability to consent,” the friend told the Eagle. “So, I interceded and I just grabbed her arm and I said, like, ‘No, she's drunk,’ and that was the end of it.”
The second victim declined to speak to the Eagle.
However, she shared an account of her experience via text message to the first victim after the first victim informed her that she’d be reaching out to the press. The text was shared with the Eagle.
“It happened towards the end of the night,” the second victim’s message said. “As far as I can recall [Ardila and I] had exactly zero conversation. It’s possible we were introduced because we’d never formally met before but I don’t remember that.”
“We were standing in a group by the door when [Ardila] said come here, and pulled me into the bathroom,” the text continued. “What felt like 0.2 seconds later we were in the bathroom with the door closed and he was kissing me. When I realized what was happening I pulled away, looked down, and he’d already taken his penis out and was stroking himself.”
She said she bolted out of the bathroom and immediately told her friends what had happened.
According to the text, Ardila then left the party.
The following morning, the first victim and her friend learned that the second victim had allegedly been harassed by Ardila as well, a friend of the second victim told them.
“We were not surprised to hear that that ended up happening at all,” the friend of the first victim told the Eagle.
She added that it “validated” her earlier concern that Ardila allegedly was attempting to sexually assault the first victim.
The Eagle asked the first victim why she did not report the incident to any campus police or law enforcement authorities at the time.
“I didn't take any action at that point, I didn't even think I had anything tangible,” she said. “Neither of us to my knowledge did anything at that point.”
The first victim, who reached out to the Eagle, said she chose to reach out after finding a Facebook message from Ardila last week, which was originally sent the night after the 2015 party. The message had gone unread by the first victim after being filtered into a mailbox designated for messages from people a Facebook user is not friends with.
The message said, “Hey what’s up? Had a good night the other night. Wanna meet up sometime?”
Upon finding the message last week, the woman Googled Ardila and found out that he was in elected office in Long Island City, where she had just recently moved to from Manhattan.
“I was extremely shocked and angry,” the first victim said. “Just shocked for so many reasons.”
It wasn’t the only time Ardila had reached out to the first victim.
In messages reviewed by the Eagle, Ardila contacted the first victim a second time, this time via Instagram direct message in early January 2018, the height of the #MeToo Movement, apologizing for that night.
“Needless to say I was a jerk (to say the least) and I wanted to reach out to apologize for that night,” Ardila said. “Anyways I hope all is well and that you enjoyed the holidays.”
She replied: “Thanks Juan. That means a lot.”
Ardila then asked the first victim how everything was going, at which point she told him he should have stopped with the apology and blocked him.
According to the first victim, the second victim did not, to her knowledge, ever receive a similar message.
Texts sent to the first victim via Instagram direct message in January 2018 in which Juan Ardila apologizes for the events of the party. Photo obtained by the Eagle
Finding out Ardila was now in elected office is the main reason the first victim chose to reach out and share her story now.
“He's an elected official within my community, and he doesn't, in my eyes, deserve to have power in any community – or at least those people who are voting for him should know what he's done,” she said.
In a statement sent to the Eagle after the publication of this story, Ardila said: “I apologize for my behavior. I have spent time reflecting and I hope to prove I have matured since college. I’m committed to learning from this and I am able to demonstrate my own personal growth.”
Ardila, a Democrat, initially served under former City Councilmember and current New York City Comptroller Brad Lander before working for non-profits as well as the Department of Education.
In 2021, he primaried City Councilmember Robert Holden in District 30 and lost.
In April 2021 during that City Council campaign, old social media posts from 2009 and 2010 resurfaced that showed Ardila using the N-word, and other posts that were considered homophobic, sexist and anti-semetic.
“As a high school student, I used offensive language in response to several Facebook comments amongst friends,” Ardila said in a statement to the New York Post at the time. “I fully understand how wrong and hurtful that language is and I wholeheartedly apologize.”
In the last election in November, Ardila was elected to the 37th Assembly District after Catherine Nolan decided not to seek reelection.
Note about anonymous sources: The Eagle kept these sources anonymous upon request.
Update: This story was updated with a statement from Juan Ardila on Monday, March 13, 2023 at 9:15 p.m.
