Second woman joins lawsuit accusing Stripes employee of raping customer
A second woman joined a lawsuit that seeks to fire a Stripes employee accused of raping a customer.
The lawsuit was originally filed on Jan. 4 by Irma Moreno.
The lawsuit accuses Stripes employee Juan Francisco Briones of raping Moreno at the Stripes convenience store on the corner of Ware Road and Dove Avenue on Nov. 23, 2023.
The lawsuit claims Briones is still employed at Stripes despite his arrest.
READ MORE: Lawsuit accuses Stripes employee of raping customer
On Friday, Moreno’s attorney announced that Stripes employee Zaya Zavala joined the lawsuit. According to a news release from attorney Israel G. Perez III, Zavala was “ridiculed and punished” after Zavala reported to her manager that Briones demanded she have sex with him in Sept. 2022.
An amended lawsuit obtained by Channel 5 News says Zavala was relocated to another Stripes location and was too “intimidated” to report the incident to police.
Jail records show Briones was arrested on a sexual assault charge on the same day Moreno says the alleged assault occurred. He was released three days later on a $50,000 bond.
A police report obtained by Channel 5 News stated that Briones was the only worker at Stripes the night of the assault.
A court date is currently not listed for Briones on the sexual assault charge.
Documents filed on Feb. 7 by Stripe’s parent company — 7-Eleven — argue that Moreno has no standing to demand that Briones be fired, as he “has not been convicted of any crime and he is presumed ‘innocent until proven guilty’ under the laws of the state of Texas, federal law, and the common law.”
A court date was not listed for the lawsuit.