“He said ‘You’re just a child.’ And he said, ‘I am the District Attorney of Etowah County. And if you tell anyone about this, no one will ever believe you,” accuser Beverly Young-Nelson says Roy Moore told her after the alleged sexual assault. (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/3GZNQqIO0A
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2017
Attorney Gloria Allred held a press conference in New York on Monday with Beverly Young Nelson, who told reporters that Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was a minor.
At the time, Allred said, Moore was a prosecutor Etowah County, Alabama, and Nelson was 15 and 16 years old.
Nelson addressed the media, providing her story of what allegedly happened. At the time, she said, she was a waitress at a local restaurant where Moore was a regular customer. She said that he would compliment her and touch her hair. “I did nothing to encourage this flirtatious behavior.”
Through tears, Nelson said that she did not respond to Moore’s flirting and had no interest in a relationship with a man twice her age.
On December 22, 1977, she claims, she brought her high school yearbook to work, placing it down on the counter. She said Moore asked if he could write in it, and when she said yes, he wrote a message wishing her merry Christmas. Later that night, when her boyfriend was late picking her up to take her home, Moore offered to give her a ride.”I agreed,” Nelson said, saying she didn’t want to wait in the cold.
“I thought he would get on the highway but instead he drove to the back of the restaurant,” she recalled. “Instead of driving to the street, he stopped the car … and he parked his car in between the dumpster and the back of the restaurant … the area was dark and it was deserted.”
When she asked what he was doing, “Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts … he locked it so I could not get out. I tried fighting him off while yelling for him to stop.” Then, Nelson said, “He started squeezing my neck.” She said he tried to force her head towards his crotch.
“I was terrified.”
Eventually, Nelson said, “I either fell out [of the car] or he pushed me out.”
She said Moore pressured her into keeping quiet, using his position of power to intimidate her.
“You’re just a child and I am the District Attorney of Etowah County,” he allegedly told her, saying that no one would believe her if she told them what happened.
Nelson said that two years later she told her sister, and later her mother. She said before she and her husband John got married, she told him as well.
Allred said that when Nelson would see Moore on the news now, it “would trigger the memories of what he had allegedly done to her.”
Allred said that Nelson did not come forward at the time because she feared Moore, but felt empowered by other women whose allegations against Moore were recently published in a report by The Washington Post.
“Their courage has inspired me to overcome my fear,” Nelson said.
“This has absolutely nothing to do with Republicans or the Democrats,” she said, pointing out that she and her husband supported President Donald Trump in his campaign.
The Republican Moore has criticized previous allegations against him and nothing more than political maneuvers to hurt his campaign. Allred pointed out that she has represented women who have made similar allegations against Democrats as well.
Allred said that she would welcome the opportunity to provide evidence to the Senate Judiciary Committee should they want to hear it, if Moore wins his race against Democrat Doug Jones.
Before the press conference began, Moore Campaign Chairman Bill Armstead said in a statement:
Gloria Allred is a sensationalist leading a witch hunt, and she is only around to create a spectacle. Allred was the attorney who claims credit for giving us Roe v. Wade which has resulted in the murder of tens of millions of unborn babies.
We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again: Judge Moore is an innocent man and has never had any sexual misconduct with anyone. This is a witch hunt against a man who has had an impeccable career for over 30 years and has always been known as a man of high character.
Let it be understood: the truth will come forward, we will pursue all legal options against these false claims and Judge Moore will be vindicated.”
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