Ex-Romney staffer faces domestic abuse charge; reportedly had fiancée sign sex slave contract

William Cummings | USA TODAY

A Las Vegas political adviser who has worked on national campaigns for Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, physically abused his ex-fiancée and had her sign a contract to be a "slave in training," according to a report published Wednesday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Review-Journal said the 46-year-old woman — whom the paper did not identify — gave reporters copies of emails, text messages and a signed copy of the five-page contract, which was dated Nov. 3, detailing her role as Benjamin Sparks' "slave and property." According to a police report, the couple began dating Nov. 2.

The contract required the woman to kneel and avert her eyes "when she entered his presence, be nude at all times, have sexual relations with him whenever he wanted and wear a collar in private," the Review-Journal reported.

"He was very demanding and did not take no for an answer," Sparks’ ex-fiancée told the paper. "Over the last month it escalated into very rough sex where he’d actually hurt me. He back-handed me … and forced himself on me."

A Las Vegas police report obtained by the Review-Journal determined there was "probable cause to arrest Sparks for domestic battery" after officers responded to a 911 call during a March 29 dispute at his former fiancée's home. He fled before police arrived and the reported victim believed he fled to Texas.

Before the fight, Sparks asked the woman to agree to be blindfolded and bound and to perform sex with other men, according to a text shown to the Review-Journal.

Sparks, 35, was fired from Republican Cresent Hardy's campaign to win back the U.S. House seat he held from 2015-2017 after the March domestic dispute. According to the Review-Journal, Sparks was also working for Yvette Herrell, a Republican candidate for New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District.

Herrell declined to comment on the report, according to the paper.

Sparks was also fired as the political director at RedRock Strategies after the March 29 incident.

In addition to his working as a staffer on Romney's 2012 campaign, Sparks worked on the effort to block the recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Sparks' ex-fiancée cited the #MeToo movement in her decision to make her story public, the Review-Journal reported.

"I truly don’t want this to happen to another girl," she said, according to the paper. "I’m strong and have a great support system and despite that, this almost broke me."

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