DELANO, Calif. (KERO) — A Kern County prosecutor assigned to the District Attorney's office in Delano has been put on leave after being named in two sexual harassment lawsuits.
Deputy District Attorney Keith Fagundes is on leave following those lawsuits.
Fagundes served as Kings County District Attorney and was voted out of office.
In 2023, he was hired as a prosecutor in Kern County by District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer.
Deputy Public Defender Sarah Rich who works in Delano said she was shocked to hear that Fagundes was hired by Zimmer.
"It is concerning you know just because the DAs office it's supposed to be the law-enforcement office they're supposed to be the head of the law-enforcement."
The first case filed in 2021 by Robert Waggle, a chief investigator for the Kings County DA office, alleges that Fagundes provided Waggle with an apartment to stay in next to Fagundes' home and soon after Fagundes began to sexually harass Waggle over text and physical touch.
That case was settled in October of 2022 with Kings County settling the case for a total of approximately $1.1 million.
The second case filed by Alexandria Smith, a secretary for Fagundes while he served as King's County DA, alleging Fagundes retaliated against her during his time as the County's District Attorney. This week, in a 12-0 vote, a jury awarded Smith $1.9 million. Kings County would up paying nearly $3 million dollars total for both cases.
We reached out to Fagundes directly regarding the resolution in these two cases, he said he had no comment. Despite Fagundes being involved in two lawsuits, Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer hired Fagundes as a prosecutor.
A spokesperson for the Kern County District Attorney's office tells us he started with the county in January of 2023.
We did reach out to the DA's office to see if District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer would be able to go on camera to discuss this, her office declined to do an on-camera interview and provided the following statement: "He is employed here. However, he is on leave and we will not discuss personnel matters."
Fagundes' hiring isn't the only one at the DA's office that has been called into question. In 2024, it was discovered that Zimmer hired David Hubbard, a former lieutenant with the Kern County Sheriff's office as an investigator. Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood fired Hubbard after an internal investigation concluded Hubbard had engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with someone under his supervision, evidence tampering and interfering with internal and external investigations. Hubbard was stripped of his law enforcement certification by POST.
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