Andrew Adelman, the general manager of the city's Department of Building and Safety Department, has resigned amid allegations that he raped an unconscious woman after a pub crawl organized by city employees in July. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has named Raymond Chan as Adelman's interim replacement.

Adelman, 52, was asked to take a paid leave by Villaraigosa in August after the allegations surfaced. Adelman, who had not been arrested for the alleged July 10 incident, hired celebrity defense attorney Mark Geragos to represent him. Geragos recently represented rapper Chris Brown, who was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend Rihanna.

According to a search warrant affidavit describing the alleged

attack, the victim says she passed out, then awoke mid-rape next to a

nude, aroused Adelman wielding a trio of invasive sex toys. Several

pages of the search warrant were first posted on the news website theenterprisereport.com.

Adelman was hired by former mayor Richard Riordan to run the huge

Building & Safety Department in 1997. However, his tenure was marked by numerous lawsuits

by disgruntled staff members who portrayed him as abusive, intimidating

and fostering a hostile environment. In 2005, Adelman held a “casino

night” in Hollywood to solicit donations from developers — a major

conflict of interest. (The money was going to such charities as the March of Dimes, the United

Way and the Red Cross, but Villaraigosa became concerned that seeking

donations from builders “may be perceived as coercive.”) And, in 2006, his “case-management unit” gave

special treatment to dozens of projects sought by political insiders

including former city commissioners and donors to the mayor and City

Council.

That same year, an audit by then-City Controller

Laura Chick found potentially severe problems developing under his

leadership. Among other things, the department was failing to supervise

building inspectors, was giving patently preferential treatment to big

developers, and was manipulating statistics — essentially, lying — to

make Building and Safety seem efficient. Chick also found “tricks and

games in how it oversees some of its funds.”

Recently, one woman who asked to remain unnamed, and who is well-regarded in her profession, told the Weekly

that Adelman grabbed and rubbed her leg under a table, refusing to

stop. She found his behavior so over-the-top, “I figured he would get

beat up by someone's boyfriend or husband.”

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