Related Report: Hughson mayor responds to latest investigation into alleged lewd behavior. ‘I don’t think I ever did that’
Hughson Mayor George Carr “kissed and touched” a StanRTA employee in 2024 and told sex-themed jokes at the agency’s board meetings when he was its chairman in 2025, an independent investigation found.
Carr did not immediately return messages left with City Hall and sent to his personal and City Council emails.
It’s the second such probe into allegations of lewd behavior by the small-city mayor, who is running for reelection on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The other was publicly revealed when Hughson Councilmember Susana Vasquez accused Carr of unwanted and inappropriate physical contact. After that independent investigation sustained her version of events in February, the Hughson City Council in May censured the mayor and removed him from three boards and committees.
The second investigation sustained accusations of an unidentified worker at StanRTA, or Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority, claiming Carr kissed and touched the employee during a September 2024 transportation conference in Anaheim.
That probe, according to a Stockton law firm hired to conduct it, also found that Carr:
- “Told a joke referencing masturbation in the presence of StanRTA employees” in May 2025.
- “Told a sexual orientation-based joke in the presence of StanRTA employees” before the start of a September 2025 board meeting.
All violate an official StanRTA Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination, law firm Neumiller & Beardslee wrote in letters dated Aug. 12 to Carr and to apparent victims whose names were redacted. StanRTA runs a bus system throughout Stanislaus County, and its board is composed mostly of elected officials.
One letter recipient had been kissed and touched by Carr, and the other apparently reported his inappropriate jokes.
The documents were obtained through a California Public Records Act request of the Stanislaus Taxpayer Association.
“In light of your resignation as Chairman of the Board of Directors effective December 17, 2025, this notice completes StanRTA’s handling of this matter, and the matter is now considered closed,” attorney Lisa Blanco Jimenez wrote in her letter to Carr.
Other victims?
On social media in May, Vasquez said, “After sharing my experience, I received messages from women who have also experienced misconduct from Carr. Learning about such incidents made my situation so much worse.”
Carr and Vasquez abstained when the rest of the Hughson council censured him on a 3-0 vote. At that meeting, the mayor said he “exercised ‘poor judgment’ but denied malicious intent or harassment,” The Modesto Bee reported.
Results of a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department investigation were forwarded to the county District Attorney’s Office, which declined to prosecute, The Bee reported.
In a separate April social media post, Vasquez said, “I did not lie, I was firm and will remain firm on speaking up about the truth and transparency owed to our community. Abuse of power does not work for me. Wrong gal. Getting used to a certain culture and becoming way too comfortable with unacceptable behavior is a problem that must not only be addressed, it must cease.”
Hughson, 10 miles southeast of Modesto, has a population of about 8,255, according to the California Department of Finance.
Carr was elected to the Hughson City Council in 2010, was appointed as mayor in 2021 and ran unopposed in 2022.