A second female prosecutor won a multimillion dollar judgement today, after a jury found she faced retaliation from Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and other top prosecutors when she reported sexual harassment within his own office.
That’s on top of two other women who worked at the DA’s office who settled pending lawsuits last year with the county for a total of $1.3 million across both cases – alleging Spitzer retaliated against them.
And there’s another four similar workplace harassment lawsuits still making their way through the legal system and expected to play out publicly this year.
The most recent jury case is triggering all sorts of hard questions for Spitzer, who in turn is pointing fingers at the county’s top lawyer for missteps.
What’s Next?
Attorneys’ representing OC DA Prosecutor Bethel Cope-Vega, who a jury awarded $3.5 million to on Tuesday, are calling out the board of supervisors for failing to protect women working in Spitzer’s office.
She’s the second prosecutor to publicly send that message, following in the footsteps of former prosecutor Tracy Miller, who was awarded $3 million last June when jurors found she faced retaliation from Spitzer for helping other women report harassment.
“The Board’s inaction has sent a clear message to Plaintiff, to countless other County employees, and to all citizens of the Orange County that harassment, discrimination, and retaliation when engaged in by politically well-connected men will be tolerated by the current members of the Board of Supervisors,” wrote lawyers representing Cope-Vega in their lawsuit.
“Quite simply, the Board should have done more and should do more. It’s apparent they won’t.”
In a statement from his spokesperson, Spitzer claims the fault for the lawsuit rests solely at the feet of county counsel, saying his office “has always supported the victims of sexual harassment and their right to sue and receive compensation for their damages.”
District attorney spokesperson Kimberly characterized the verdict as “about the harassment engaged in by a former Senior Assistant Deputy District Attorney; it is also a condemnation of the actions of County Counsel.”
“He hired an outside investigator who threatened our employees with termination if they did not participate in the investigation and promised them confidentiality. Then County Counsel went on to publicly humiliate and victim-shame these women by deeming the confidential report a public document, failing to adequately protect their identities in that public document and then releasing it to the media,” Edds wrote.
“We are not in any way surprised by this verdict or the dollar amount since County Counsel broke its promises to these women and betrayed their trust.”
Lawyers representing Cope-Vega also criticized the county’s decision to release an unredacted report in 2021 documenting all of the complaints against LoGalbo – a decision Spitzer says was made by county counsel Leon Page, not him.
County Counsel Leon Page declined to comment on the suit.
Yet in her lawsuit, Cope-Vega clearly identified Spitzer and his lieutenants as the drivers behind retaliation toward her.
“After allegations began being made against Mr. LoGalbo by women in the OCDA, Mr. Spitzer and some other men in management were quick to dismiss Plaintiff and other victims,” Cope-Vega’s lawyers wrote.
“Mr. Spitzer, himself, accused Mr. LoGalbo’s victims of being “dishonest” and tried to have one of them written-up,” they continued in court filings. “He chastised and was dismissive of other employees for their role in the investigation, telling them, ‘You take your little notes about me that end up in reports.’”
That exact quote about “little notes” in reports is also found in a previous judgement against the county over Spitzer’s conduct involving Miller, who also won an additional $1.54 million in attorneys fees in December.
“The people deserve better than the Orange County Board of Supervisors spending millions and millions and millions of taxpayer dollars defending this corrupt DA,” Miller said at a press conference after her case. “County leaders should hold him accountable.”
[Read: OC Supervisors Don’t Answer Calls For Action Against DA For Harassment of Female Prosecutors]
Cope-Vega, the latest prosecutor to win in court against the county, was named California District Attorneys’ Association Prosecutor of the Year in 2025, according to Spitzer’s own X account, where he praised her work in a March 2025 post.
“As the County’s only child abuse prosecutor, Cope-Vega has proven to be a fearless advocate for children, protecting them with compassion and vigorously prosecuting those who harm them,” Spitzer wrote. “Her work in the courtroom has rescued countless children from their abusers.”
A History of Harassment Reports
Cope-Vega was one of eight women who reported harassment from Gary LoGalbo, one of Spitzer’s top lieutenants and the best man at his wedding before he earned the nickname of “Scary Gary” at the office.
“Mr. LoGalbo told Plaintiff that he dreamt of her and that she was naked in his dreams,” wrote Cope-Vega’s lawyers in her lawsuit.” Almost every time Plaintiff’s office door was shut, Mr. LoGalbo would bust in, telling Plaintiff he hoped to catch her undressing and Mr. LoGalbo called Plaintiff late at night, to ask her what she was wearing and where she was in her house.”
An ensuing county HR investigation backed up the women when they reported LoGalbo, but multiple lawsuits allege Spitzer and his other lieutenants retaliated against the women who reported LoGalbo.
“As for Mr. Spitzer, he has accused Mr. LoGalbo’s victims of being ‘dishonest’. He also chastised the employees who confirmed Mr. LoGalbo’s unlawful conduct,” Cope-Vega’s lawyers wrote. “Employees who have spoken out against Mr. LoGalbo’s victims are now being treated more favorably by Mr. Spitzer and are being awarded for shaming innocent victims of sexual harassment.”
While Spitzer was not directly named as a defendant in Cope Vega’s case, jurors found the county failed to protect women in his office, noting in their decision the county failed to “take reasonable steps to prevent and correct workplace harassment.”
County leaders have spoken with Spitzer’s accusers behind closed doors about settling their cases and have taken away his HR department to let the county CEO’s office run it, but there hasn’t been much public discussion on Spitzer’s conduct.
[Read: OC Supervisors Remove District Attorney’s HR Department After $3 Million Loss]
Miller and Cope-Vega’s cases are the first against Spitzer to be reviewed by juries, but other payouts connected to Spitzer’s conduct took place out of the courtroom.
County supervisors paid out another $2 million to Damon Tucker, a former investigator who alleged that Spitzer improperly fired him after Tucker began investigating him, claiming in his lawsuit that OC’s top law enforcement official may have engaged in crimes like money laundering and solicitation of bribes.
Tucker’s lawyers initially offered a $1.2 million settlement offer to the county, with county supervisors initially turning it down but eventually settling just days before the trial.
[Read: Could OC’s District Attorney Office Be Facing A Jury Trial Like Never Before?]
Altogether, the county has disclosed over $11 million of spending in the past two years to defend Spitzer’s conduct.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.