The general manager of the New York Mets, Jared Porter, sent unsolicited, graphic photos to a female journalist in 2016 when he worked for the Chicago Cubs.
A report published by ESPN states that Porter sent the woman dozens of uninvited explicit messages, culminating with a photo of an erect, naked penis. However, while admitting to sending numerous texts to the woman with no response, he said that the explicit ones were "joke stock images."
The woman has not been identified but she is reported to have been working as a foreign correspondent at the time, having moved to the U.S. to cover Major League Baseball. She has since left the country, however, and cited the harassment from Porter as one of the reasons why she left the journalism industry.
The woman ignored 60 messages from Porter before the last offensive photo was sent to her.
Porter, 41 was hired by the Mets last week on a four-year contract following his stint with the Arizona Diamondbacks as senior vice president and assistant general manager.
"I have spoken directly with Jared Porter regarding events that took place in 2016 of which we were made aware tonight for the first time. Jared has acknowledged to me his serious error in judgment, has taken responsibility for his conduct, has expressed remorse, and has previously apologized for his actions," Mets president Sandy Alderson said in a statement.
"The Mets take these matters seriously, expect professional and ethical behavior from all of our employees, and certainly do not condone the conduct described in [the ESPN] story. We will follow up as we review the facts regarding this serious issue."
ESPN reports that when contacted about the messages, Porter said he hadn't sent any photos of himself. While he acknowledged the selfies he sent were him, he said that the photograph of an erect penis was not him and that he used a stock image.
He said that "the more explicit ones are not of me. Those are like, kinda like joke-stock images."
The texting had started casually before Porter began commenting on the woman's appearance and inviting her to meet him in different cities and hotels. He questioned why she was ignoring him and sent her a photo of a bulge in his pants.
On the day the final lewd photo was sent, he had already sent her almost 20 photos of a Los Angeles hotel.
The ESPN report details individual messages, charting how the woman thought the exchange was friendly and work-related at first before she realized Porter's intent and the texts became sexually motivated.
A pattern of unsolicited messages without response continued for weeks.
"My number one motivation is I want to prevent this from happening to someone else," the woman told ESPN of the experience. "Obviously, he's in a much greater position of power. I want to prevent that from happening again. The other thing is, I never really got the notion that he was truly sorry."
"I know in the U.S., there is a women's empowerment movement. But in [my home country], it's still far behind," the woman added. "Women get dragged through the mud if your name is associated with any type of sexual scandal. Women are the ones who get fingers pointed at them. I don't want to go through the victimization process again. I don't want other people to blame me."
