De Young Museum security guard files sexual harassment lawsuit
Ezra Iturribarria filed the lawsuit against her supervisor, Patrick Smithwick, on February 20 in San Francisco Superior Court.
Law and Crime
A longtime security guard at the De Young Museum in San Francisco has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit accusing her supervisor of making sexually aggressive remarks to her over the past three years.
Ezra Iturribarria, the security guard, filed the lawsuit against her supervisor, Patrick Smithwick, on February 20 in San Francisco Superior Court.
She also named the Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums—which is the parent organization of the De Young Museum—along with the city and county of San Francisco as defendants.
Iturribarria was first hired by the museum as a part-time security guard on a per-diem basis in 200, according to her complaint. She was made full-time by the museum in 2013.
In the last three years, Iturribarria alleged she faced unwanted harassing conduct from Smithwick that “was visual, verbal, physical and included unwanted sexual advances.”
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Court Documents: Ezra Iturribarria v. San Francisco
Records from San Francisco Superior Court
Adam Schrader
Smithwick, in one incident, allegedly told Iturribarria that she had a “FUPA,” a slang term that means “Fat Upper Pussy Area,” and said he could “just move that out of the way” if she were to have sex with him. Iturribarria alleged that Smithwick in a later incident “tried to lure” her into a sexual threesome with his wife.
In another incident, Smithwick allegedly showed Iturribarria a video of a beaver gnawing on wood and said, “Beaver likes wood,” using slang terms for a vagina and an erect penis.
Iturribarria also accused Smithwick of retaliating against her for rejecting his alleged sexual advances by not scheduling her to work overtime as requested and instead scheduling employees with less seniority.
“You are really whoring it up today,” Smithwick allegedly told Iturribarria while he mimed grabbing her breasts in the museum’s security control room in an incident on October 1, 2025. “That’s why you look like a prostitute.”
Iturribarria said she reported Smithwick’s behavior to the museum the next day. She acknowledged that the museum assigned Smithwick to another museum under the Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums as it looked into her claims, but called it a “sham investigation.”
The De Young Museum allegedly told Iturribarria on December 19, after the investigation concluded, that Smithwick would be returning to his role later in the month. Iturribarria then took a leave of absence from the museum and remains on leave, according to her complaint.
Iturribarria’s lawsuit lists four causes of action, including: unlawful discrimination based on gender; unlawful harassment based on sex; failure to prevent harassment; and retaliation for opposing harassment and discrimination.
The lawsuit seeks damages, punitive damages against certain defendants, injunctive relief and a jury trial.
Court records show Iturribarria also made a formal complaint of employment discrimination against the museum with California’s Civil Rights Department.
In September, The San Francisco Standard reported that at least nine current and former security guards and a cashier have sued the Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums since 2016.
Those lawsuits, the online news organization said, showed that the city has paid out more than $1 million to settle seven lawsuits alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation by the museum’s security management team and human resources staff.
Last month, Urgent Matter revealed that the former retail manager for the for-profit Museum of Sex in New York had filed a lawsuit over alleged sexual harassment by his coworkers.
Follow along with other lawsuits at Urgent Matter's art lawsuit tracker.
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