SAN DIEGO Ex-mayor pleads guilty

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, driven from office by sexual-harassment allegations, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony for putting a woman in a headlock and to lesser counts for kissing one woman and grabbing the buttocks of another.

The pleas came less than two months after the 10-term congressman defiantly said he was the victim of a lynch mob and insisted he would be vindicated of the sexual harassment claims by at least 17 women if due process was allowed to run its course.

Filner said little Tuesday except “guilty” when a judge read the charges against him — one count of felony false imprisonment and two counts of misdemeanor battery.

Under a plea deal, the state attorney general’s office will recommend Filner, 71, be sentenced to three months’ home confinement and three years’ probation. The maximum possible sentence for a false-imprisonment count is three years in prison and one year for each count of battery.

Filner didn’t comment after the hearing, but his attorney said the former mayor “profusely apologizes” for his behavior.