Owner of Sacramento real estate company accused of sexual battery, assault in civil lawsuits
Ethan G. Conrad, the head of a prominent Northern California real estate company based in Sacramento, faces allegations of sexual assault and abusive behavior in separate lawsuits filed by two women.
Conrad’s company, Ethan Conrad Properties, has properties across the region and recently purchased the Renaissance Tower, one of Sacramento’s tallest buildings, after submitting a winning $21 million auction bid.
The law firms Meister Law and Garner and Associates together filed both lawsuits on behalf of the women in Sacramento Superior Court. Both lawsuits list sexual battery and assault as alleged complaints against Conrad.
One woman he met online alleges he sexually assaulted her at his home, and a woman he was in a relationship with alleges Conrad was abusive and attacked her when she questioned him about sexual encounters he had with other women.
On Wednesday, Conrad’s attorney Glenn Peterson filed a countersuit that argues the sexual assault allegations are false and made in an attempt to extort “hush money” from Conrad after having “consensual sexual relations” with a woman at his home.
Conrad told The Sacramento Bee the allegations in the second lawsuit also are untrue and were made by an ex-girlfriend upset over the end of their relationship.
“There’s no truth to any of these allegations,” Conrad told The Bee on Thursday evening. “I would hope that anyone who reads about this sees that I’m completely innocent of these charges.”
Conrad has not been charged with any crimes stemming from the allegations in the lawsuits. A Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office investigation concluded with a detective telling Conrad he didn’t find any evidence the real estate investor committed a crime, according to Conrad’s countersuit.
Ethan Conrad Properties, Inc. is a prominent company with its blue-and-yellow real estate signs marking property throughout the region. Earlier this week, the company closed escrow on the purchase of the 28-story Renaissance Tower office building in downtown Sacramento. With the addition of the high rise, Ethan Conrad Properties now controls roughly 600,000 square feet of office and retail space within a single block including buildings at 630 K Street and 770 L Street.
Sexual assault allegation
Conrad through his attorney on Wednesday filed in court a cross complaint to one of the lawsuits. His attorney denied the allegations of sexual assault, arguing it was an attempt to “extort money from Conrad.”
The first lawsuit was filed Nov. 20 on behalf of a woman identified in court documents as “Jane Roe.” Her attorneys allege in the lawsuit that she was a “victim of nonconsensual sodomy, rape and other sexual and harmful contact” at the hands of Conrad.
Over several weeks starting in July 2022, Conrad developed an online relationship with Jane Roe through Facebook using its Messenger platform, along with text messaging. About 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2022, Conrad invited her to his “luxurious home” along the Sacramento River, according to her lawsuit.
Conrad served her “beverages that caused her to be suddenly and unexpectedly incapacitated,” her lawsuit alleges.
Her attorneys argued in the lawsuit that what happened at Conrad’s home was beyond what Jane Roe had reasonably anticipated, “and apparently a manifestation of some sort of sodomy fetish,” he wanted to act out with her.
“It is clear from the events of the evening that Conrad did not intend for the interaction to be a romantic dinner for two, movie night, or friendly encounter, but purely an erotic and rough sexual encounter,” her attorneys alleged in the lawsuit.
Her attorneys included in her lawsuit screenshots of text messages they say were exchanged between Conrad and Jane Roe:
Conrad: “Ha! Aren’t you on birth control anyway?”
Jane Roe: “No I’m not on birth control why would you just assumed that...”
She wrote that she was feeling pain from the sexual encounter. She continued:
Jane Roe: “(...) I couldn’t make out what happens”
Conrad: “Hilarious!”
Sacramento sheriff’s investigation
The lawsuit says Jane Roe reported the alleged sexual assault to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday provided The Bee a copy of the initial written report of the incident at Conrad’s home. The document says the incident was reported Dec. 28, 2022, about a month after Jane Roe went to his home.
Conrad invited Jane Roe to his home to meet for the first time in person, she “blacked out” after consuming alcohol, woke up with pain and discomfort and “did not have any recollection of having or consenting to any intercourse,” according to the sheriff’s report.
She later confronted him, and he acknowledged sexual intercourse and offered her “financial compensation for any medical treatment needed as a result of the incident,” according to the sheriff’s report. Sheriff’s officials wrote in the report that crime scene investigators were not requested to collect evidence “due to the late reporting of this incident.”
Conrad’s attorney in the filed cross complaint argued that at the conclusion of the investigation, his client appeared “to be the victim,” not Jane Roe. Peterson argued that “none of her false claims were substantiated,” and the attorney included an email sent to Conrad from sheriff’s Detective Tom Purser who investigated the alleged sexual assault.
“As I explained to you when my investigation was completed, during the course of my investigation, I was unable to find or locate any evidence that supported a crime was committed by you. In fact, some of the evidence I uncovered during my investigation, eliminated you as being a suspect in any crime,” Purser wrote in the email to Conrad. “The investigation has been closed for well over a year and no further action is being taken at this time. I can say that evidence I uncovered during my investigation showed the victim was not being truthful with me about things related to the investigation.”
Second civil lawsuit
Peterson has not yet filed any documents on behalf of Conrad in response to the lawsuit filed Dec. 4. on behalf of “Jane Roe #2,” a woman who was in a relationship with Conrad.
Her lawsuit alleges Conrad falsely portrayed to others in the business community that she was his exclusive female partner and companion with whom he had an intimate, long-term relationship while “blatantly lying to her about ongoing and frequent sexual encounters with a range of other women, as well as the substance of criminal investigations relating to investigations of sexual misconduct.”
Jane Roe #2 alleges Conrad was “physically and mentally abusive” with her during their relationship and attacked her in early December 2022. Her attorneys argued in the lawsuit that she had asked him about “recent illicit contact with another female and knowledge of other sexual relations with other females,” which had created “turmoil in their relationship.”
Her lawsuit says she “became suspicious, in particular, regarding a sexual encounter he had with a woman” before Thanksgiving 2022. Jane Roe #2 alleges that Conrad’s “behavior became erratic, unusual and abusive,” and their multi-year relationship deteriorated in a couple of months.
“On the late evening of December 4, 2022, Ethan Conrad physically attacked (Jane Roe #2) by striking her deliberately in the stomach — a method of attack he believed was easier to conceal bruising,” her attorneys alleged in the lawsuit.
Her attorneys included in the lawsuit a photo her of red marks on her stomach. Her attorneys said the photo was taken in the early hours of Dec. 5, 2022, at Conrad’s home after he allegedly attacked her.
On Thursday, Conrad said there was no truth to Jane Roe #2’s allegations. He said he will be filing, through his attorney, a motion asking the court to dismiss her lawsuit.
“This complaint is from an ex-girlfriend whom I had an intermittent relationship with over several years,” Conrad said. “This complaint is in essence driven by the plaintiff being vindictive based on our relationship not proceeding in an attempt to generate a settlement.”
Both lawsuits are scheduled for a case management conference next year; Oct. 17 in Jane Roe #2’s lawsuit and Dec. 12 in Jane Roe’s lawsuit.
This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 7:39 PM.
