Two more women accuse San Diego Mayor Filner of sexual misconduct

Two more women -- both military veterans -- say they were the targets of unwanted and unpleasant sexual advances by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner.

Eldonna Fernandez and Gerri Tindley told CNN their encounters with Filner came at a meeting of female military veterans while he was a member of Congress.

Fernandez, a retired Air Force master sergeant, said she met Filner at a “Healing and Hiring Fair” sponsored by the San Diego-based National Women’s Veterans Assn. of America.

Tindley, an Army veteran, said she met Filner at the same event, where she gave a speech about sexual assault in the military. The group was organized to provide support for women who have been sexually abused.

The descriptions given to CNN by the two women are consistent with accounts of other women who have accused Filner, as a member of Congress and now mayor, of sexual harassment.

Fernandez and Tindley are the 12th and 13th women to make accusations against Filner, including former mayoral staffer Irene McCormack Jackson, who has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit.

On Monday, nurse Michelle Tyler accused Filner of harassing her when she met in his mayoral office June 11 to ask for his help for a wounded Marine from Iraq.

The 70-year-old Democrat has rejected calls for his resignation and denied sexually harassing women, although he has conceded his behavior toward women for years was disrespectful and abusive.

Filner is undergoing a two-week session of behavioral therapy at an undisclosed residential facility. He is set to return to City Hall on Aug. 19.

Fernandez told CNN Filner asked if she was married, called her beautiful and said he wanted to take her to dinner. He followed up with a voicemail message, she said, in which he called himself “your newly favorite congressman...the one who fell in love with you at your last speech.”

Tindley told CNN that Filner “got as close as he could to me” as both sat on a couch. “I felt very weird,” she said.

Tara Jones, a Navy veteran and president of the association, said Filner is “a sexual predator. And he used this organization for his own personal agenda.”

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