The Station Co-owner Faces Multiple Allegations of Harassment and Unwanted Touching

Multiple women allege that interactions with Jose Luis Rodriguez, co-owner of The Station coffee shops in the South End, resulted in verbal harassment and unwanted touching. Some of the allegations come from one of his family members.

Rodriguez's grandniece, Sefer Lopez, 32, wrote a now-viral Instagram post on Nov. 30, saying she wanted to "normalize calling people out who have a big platform in Seattle."

In that post, Lopez shared screenshots of texts that she said she sent Rodriguez's wife, Leona Moore-Rodriguez, after Lopez left her job at The Station. In those texts, Lopez alleged Rodriguez had "grabbed [her] ass." He allegedly told her he fantasized about having sex with her, according to Lopez's texts to Moore-Rodriguez.

More than half-a-dozen women commented on the post, alleging they, too, had been harassed by Rodriguez. Dozens of other community members commented on the post, saying they were sorry to hear about what had happened and offered support.

In one of several interviews with the Emerald, conducted by phone, email, and text, Rodriguez admitted he had been too flirtatious or vulgar with some women but denied ever approaching his grandniece Lopez sexually or touching her.

"I will remove myself from The Station if I have to, but I can't admit to something that is not true," Rodriguez said.

The Station, known as a community hub that supports people involved in social justice causes, has locations in Beacon Hill and Columbia City.

Rodriguez said he is constantly surrounded by Black and Brown women who would not have allowed him to get away with such behavior.

"They would have whooped my ass if I had done anything stupid like that," he said.

In a separate interview with the Emerald, Rodriguez's wife, Moore-Rodriguez, called the allegations "embarrassing and humiliating for our entire family." She said she didn't believe Lopez.

"I do not believe this. I've known Luis for 30 years," she said. But she also admitted she knew of at least one other recent incident in which Rodriguez grabbed a woman's buttocks and was forced to apologize. And she said she couldn't rule out other incidents.

"If he's out of line, he might not know it all the time," she said. "Sometimes when he drinks he does stupid things. That's no excuse. I don't condone it at all."

In response to his wife's statement, Rodriguez said the recent incident she'd referred to had been addressed and he had to "focus on bettering myself."

In an email, Detective Brian Pritchard of the Seattle Police Department said that as of Dec. 10, he had no record of complaints or formal charges filed against Rodriguez.

Douglas Wagoner of the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office told the Emerald in an email that unwanted touching like grabbing someone's buttocks could be considered Assault 4 with Sexual Motivation, a gross misdemeanor, but how such cases are prosecuted are fact-specific and depend on evidence like photos, witnesses, and whether law enforcement has looked into it. Wagoner did not indicate that any charges were being pursued against Rodriguez.

In a statement to the Emerald, Lopez said she and her two daughters lived in San Antonio, Texas, where she followed her tío Rodriguez on Instagram and saw how involved he was in community. She had never met him. She said she reached out to her tío for help in 2023 because, as a single mother, she was barely surviving.

"He responded immediately, flew my daughters and me to Seattle, and opened his home to us. We lived in his basement for six months," Lopez said in a statement provided to the Emerald.

Lopez said at first "everything felt like a blessing." Her tío connected her to other important community members, and she met additional family living in the area. She got a job at El Centro de la Raza, as well as housing through the organization. About a year later, Lopez said, she was fired. That's when she decided to go back to school and work at The Station.

In a statement to the Emerald, El Centro confirmed Lopez was employed with the organization from January to August 2024 and that the position included employee housing. The organization had no additional information about Lopez's allegations against Rodriguez.

Lopez described her tío as charismatic and magnetic, someone who loves "chisme," or gossip. But she alleged that last year at a Halloween party, her tío crossed a line and touched her. She pushed him away.

"He laughed, apologized, and said his hand had slipped," Lopez said in the statement.

"I tried to move past it. I wanted to believe it was the alcohol," she added in a statement to the Emerald. "But later that night he approached me again, this time alone outside. He told me he wanted to have sex with me," she alleged. "He said he was kinky, that uncles and nieces together was more common than I think, and even mentioned porn involving incest."

Lopez said everything changed after that. She alleged that as her tío continued to insist she should repay him with sexual favors, Lopez realized she wasn't safe. She said she even suffered from suicidal thoughts. Eventually, Lopez left Seattle and moved back to Texas.

In his own Instagram post on Dec. 2, which has since been taken down, Rodriguez wrote Lopez's allegations are not true and that he and his wife, Moore-Rodriguez, "care deeply for Sefer and we hold no anger or ill will toward her. We truly want the best for her, and we hope she finds healing and support."

In an interview with the Emerald, Rodriguez said Lopez struggled with remaining employed and was not dependable when she worked at The Station. He said they got into big arguments over her inability to support herself, and that her allegations are a form of retaliation. He claimed she continued to try to get help from him and wanted to move back into his and his wife's home even after the alleged groping incident in 2024.

In the screenshots of the texts Lopez sent to Moore-Rodriguez and posted on Instagram, Lopez said Rodriguez's nephew, Martin Alan Castro, had been "witness of how [Rodriguez] can get with [Lopez] when he's drunk." But in an interview with the Emerald, Castro said he's never witnessed anything. He wasn't sure why Lopez mentioned him in her texts but added that he liked Lopez and considered her a good person.

The Emerald reached out to Lopez multiple times for an interview. Lopez didn't respond to questions about Rodriguez's allegations or why she had mentioned her cousin in the texts to Moore-Rodriguez.

Other Allegations Emerge

Three other women told the Emerald they had experienced and witnessed harassment by Rodriguez. They have not gone public with these allegations before, they said, because they feared Rodriguez could retaliate given his connections with people in the community. They were also concerned about reputational harm.

Jennifer Johnson, 42, said she was in a relationship with Rodriguez, who has an open relationship with his wife, for about five years. Johnson said she witnessed him harass a bartender who felt threatened after he grabbed her by the hand when he was noticeably intoxicated. The manager of the Central District restaurant made Rodriguez leave the establishment, she said.

In an email to the Emerald, Rodriguez said he was trying to look at the bartender's tattoo and has since apologized to the bartender, staff, and owners of the restaurant.

Johnson added: "I feel terrible that people went through so much around him and that I was in close proximity to him and didn't stop him." Johnson also said Rodriguez used money as leverage and paid for things, including vacations in places like Palm Springs, Las Vegas, and Mexico, but then threatened to leave her stranded.

After the breakup, Johnson alleged Rodriguez stalked her and tried to ruin her reputation.

When asked about the allegations, Rodriguez said he and Johnson had argued like any couple, but that "everyone knows I was really sweet to her." He described her as "somebody who I really truly care [about] and love." He admitted to going to her house after the breakup, but said, "I was just very heartbroken."

"If you want to call me a stalker for wanting more explanation, I guess I was," he said.

Rodriguez also denied trying to ruin Johnson's reputation or leveraging money. "She and her family have their own money," he said. Rodriguez added that after arguments, he just needed space and believed "that's what she's referring to when she says I threatened to leave her stranded on vacation."

Carolyn West, a professor at the University of Washington Tacoma and an expert on sexual assault, said victims cope with harassment in various ways. "Sometimes people don't realize it is harassment until they get some distance," West said.

Women of color, West added, might be more hesitant to come forward for fear of not being believed or because of a potential loss of income. West also said in today's current climate, some will minimize harassment and instead point to so-called bigger problems, such as the mass deportation of immigrants under Trump.

"People can make allegations targeting powerful people for any number of reasons, but I more lean toward: start by believing and investigate," West said.

Another woman in her late 30s, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said she stopped going to The Station because Rodriguez's alleged advances toward her became more and more inappropriate.

"I found so much community. People doing amazing work at The Station," she said. "This is why it hurt so much."

"Nobody checks him," she added. "Everyone just kinda laughed it off."

The woman said he called her a nickname that referred to a body part. She shared with the Emerald screenshots of texts she said she exchanged with Rodriguez. And at one point, she said, he FaceTimed her because he wanted to video chat while he was "culiando," or having sex with someone else. He acted hurt when she rejected him. She said it's important to point out Rodriguez's alleged harassment was happening in social circles predicated on equity and justice, but that his behavior has repelled women and made them feel unwelcome.

Rodriguez said he could not comment without more information about the allegations.

Sheila Curtis, 33, read about Lopez's allegations on Instagram and decided to protest outside The Station coffee shop in Columbia City on Dec. 3 with a sign saying "Stop Brewing Excuses #MeToo #ProtectWomen" while livestreaming on TikTok.

As she was protesting, Curtis told the Emerald she's an event curator and influencer who once held an event at The Station for creative people who like to work at night.

"Not a lot of people showed up. But at the event, the owner Luis kept touching on me, inappropriate," she alleged. "Kept saying things. They started with him saying things to me, you know, 'I look good,' or 'Oh, you have big breasts,' or 'Oh, you're curvy. Look at that body,' right?" Curtis said.

Curtis said she tried to tell him to back off, but that he then allegedly touched her rear end.

Then, "as I'm leaving, I'm giving the people who came hugs. He reaches in for a hug, unwanted, and kisses me on the cheek," she said.

"I feel like a lot of our politicians aren't doing anything. A lot of our lawmakers aren't doing anything. So as a woman, I'm not waiting for someone else to do something … Sometimes you got to get radical," she said.

"It's detestable, it is disgusting, and it is a joke, and you are laughing in the face of victims when you continue to come up here and just open like nothing's happening," Curtis continued, while Rodriguez was inside working at The Station. "People are coming here broken. They're coming here looking for community."

Curtis said she also felt an obligation to protest as a mother of a daughter who lives in Columbia City. "I'm a firm believer that if it happens to one of us, it happens to all of us," she said.

When asked about Curtis' allegations, Rodriguez acknowledged that he had been "making fun of her party."

"I'm very sorry about my behavior. I'm very sorry that I gave [Curtis] a hug, and [she] did not want it," he added. "I take ownership of my mistakes. I'm 48 years old. I'm a grown man. I opened The Station 15 years ago. I know that I'm going to make some people upset. I know that I'm going to offend some people."

As Curtis continued to protest outside The Station, Rodriguez said he and his wife have been judged for having an open relationship.

"So when I'm in an open relationship, people don't like that," he continued, "and that makes them uncomfortable, especially because in order to talk to women, I have to say, 'Hey, you know what's going on?' And then they're like, 'Aren't you married, don't you have a wife?'"

In a follow-up email to the Emerald, Rodriguez denied touching Curtis in any kind of sexual way.

In an Instagram post on Dec. 9 that has since been deleted, Rodriguez wrote he is a "cis straight male who has zero idea of what it is like to be a woman in this world, and I have always been confident and comfortable around women, which may have led me to offend people without realizing it." He said his plan is to work with "willing community leaders on how I can make this situation right" and asked that he be allowed a chance to redeem himself. 

In an email to the Emerald, Rodriguez explained he took both of his Instagram posts down because "people were sending nasty messages, posting false narratives."

In the email, Rodriguez also said he doesn't believe he has a drinking problem.

"I do drink socially and have had too many while out or at events. I'm sure people have seen me drunk. This might sound like denial, but I don't need to seek help," he said in an email to the Emerald. "Alcohol is the last thing I want right now and I'm not drinking at the moment."

In an interview with the Emerald, Rodriguez's brother, Oscar, who owns Baja Bistro in Beacon Hill, said he also doesn't believe his brother has a drinking problem. Oscar also said he has seen Luis "compliment women." He said he himself has told Luis "women don't want to hear that" from a stranger who they might perceive as a threat.

"I've never seen him be physically inappropriate with anybody. It's just his mouth," he said. "He thinks he's being cute … it's kinda creepy."

The Station Grows Into a Community Hub

Rodriguez first opened The Station with his wife, Moore-Rodriguez, in 2010 in a small storefront in Beacon Hill. They relocated to a retail space at El Centro de la Raza seven years later. Then they opened a second location across the street from the Columbia City light rail station. In addition to grants, donations, and government financial assistance, they've received tens of thousands of dollars from GoFundMe campaigns.

In a statement to the Emerald, El Centro confirmed that The Station has a commercial lease with the organization. And the organization also confirmed that in 2020, El Centro gave the husband-and-wife team their 2020 Roberto Maestas Legacy Award, named after the founder of El Centro.

"Luis and Leona live community activism and advocacy," El Centro de la Raza said in a published statement at the time. "They open their doors to serve as informal headquarters for many community meetings and as an event space, such as block parties, fundraisers for victims of violence, and youth poetry writing workshops. … Luis and Leona stand up for the community when they witness injustices and open their 'home' to anyone who needs it."

Lopez's emailed statement to the Emerald makes no mention of what accountability might look like.

When asked what she wanted to come from the allegations against Rodriguez, Johnson, his former girlfriend, said: "I would really like to see him go to AA and get help for alcoholism. A public apology for his actions."

"I think that him, and men like him, need to be aware that although their actions are not criminal offenses, that their actions are harmful," she said.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, help is available through the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center.

Emerald News Editor Yuko Kodama contributed reporting.