Pasco judge candidate ends campaign after allegations he made lewd comments to county attorney

TAMPA, Fla. - A candidate for Pasco County judge ended his campaign after allegations he harassed a Pasco County Sheriff's Office attorney became public.

Chris Billings, an assistant state attorney, filed a notice of withdrawal shortly after 4 p.m. Monday, just hours after Sheriff Chris Nocco told reporters he withdrew his endorsement of Billings when the allegations were made earlier this month.

"I just felt it better to pull my endorsement and I am going to be staying out of the race, no matter what, going forward," Nocco said Monday

Pasco County Sheriff's Office Attorney Catherine Mansfield sent a ten-sentence interoffice memorandum Jan. 2, detailing what she said happened during a Dec. 13 phone call with Billings.

On that day, the memo says, Mansfield called Billings to discuss a case.

With his secretary on the line, Mansfield says Billings asked if she wanted to cuddle with his secretary, if she would wear his campaign shirt as a crop top around the office, and if she would stop talking so he could picture her and the secretary cuddling.

Before she ended the conversation, she said he remarked about having her boss' endorsement.

After Nocco pulled that endorsement, it was also removed from Billings' campaign website. Several hours later, the entire website was gone.

"The memo will speak for itself," Sheriff Nocco said. "I was just aware of the content. I don't want to get into the details of it. My biggest thing was making sure our member felt supported."

Billings told FOX 13 the memo does not speak for itself; that he made the choice to leave the race days ago and he "flatly denies" the accusations made by Mansfield.

He acknowledged there had been a call about a case, which included his own supervisor.

He said he has known Mansfield "a long time" but that "the race was getting too dirty," and, "It became clear others wanted it more than me."

Mansfield told FOX 13 she stands by the memo.

She also acknowledged she's considering running for the judgeship, posting on Facebook, "Official filing coming soon.... I am excited for the next step in my career."

The state attorney's office was not able to immediately provide a comment about whether it's looking into the allegations against their assistant state attorney.