Glee's Mark Salling Accused of Sexual Battery in Lawsuit

Woman claims that actor who plays Puck made "sexually offensive contact" with her body against her wishes

By Natalie Finn Jan 19, 2013 4:09 AMTags
Mark Salling Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

A sour note for Mark Salling.

In a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, a woman accuses the Glee star of sexual battery and assault, claiming he had unprotected sexual contact with her despite her demands that he wear a condom.

"There is no truth to this," Salling's rep tells E! News. "We turn the rest over to Mark's attorneys and have no further comment." 

Plaintiff Roxanne Gorzela states in her complaint that, in March 2011, she and Salling were engaging in "personal and intimate contact" when he "intentionally," and without her consent, "inserted his penis into [her] vagina without a condom."

"'What are you doing?'" she asked, according to the suit, then demanding that he put on a condom before they proceeded to have sex.

The complaint further alleges: "Although Defendant was aware that Plaintiff did not consent to unprotected sexual intercourse, Defendant violated Plaintiff again by inserting his penis into Plaintiff's vagina without a condom for a second time."

Gorzela states that she became "overwhelmed with anxiety" in the days following the encounter, worrying that she may have contracted a sexually transmitted disease.

She claims in the lawsuit that he never returned her phone calls or texts to inquire about the last time he was tested for STDs and, when she went to his house to ask him in person, he grabbed and pushed her, causing her to hit her head. A police report she filed the following day was included in her lawsuit.

In addition to sexual battery and assault-and-battery, Gorzela is alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. Calling Salling's conduct "willful, malicious and despicable," she says she has suffered "severe and substantial mental and emotional distress, humiliation, fear, apprehension, anxiety and anguish."

Gorzela is seeking unspecified general, special and punitive damages.

—Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum