An alleged incident involving Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a female aide may have risen “to the level of a crime,” the Albany Police Department said Thursday.
Albany Police spokesman Steve Smith told the New York Times Thursday that the department had reached out to the alleged victim’s representative but has not received a formal complaint from the accuser, who remains anonymous.
Smith said the New York State Police informed the department, though Cuomo acting counsel Beth Garvey said Thursday that she herself called the police Wednesday night after the alleged victim’s lawyer told Cuomo’s office that she didn’t want to file a report.
“As a matter of state policy, when allegations of physical contact are made, the agency informs the complainant that they should contact their local police department,” Garvey said in a statement to the Times. “If they decline, the agency has an obligation to reach out themselves and inform the department of the allegation.”
“In this case, the person is represented by counsel and when counsel confirmed the client did not want to make a report, the state notified the police department and gave them the attorney’s information,” Garvey said.
The police department has not opened a criminal investigation but did offer its services to the accuser, Smith said, “as we would do with any other report or incident.”
This sixth Cuomo accuser reportedly said the governor inappropriately touched her when she was at his mansion for work last year, an official close to the matter told the Albany Times Union Tuesday. The publication withheld her name since she could not immediately be reached for comment, but noted that she is a member of the governor’s Executive Chamber staff.
On Wednesday, the Albany Times Union reported that the woman accused Cuomo of groping her when she was at the governor’s mansion. The governor allegedly summoned her to his private residence on the second floor of the mansion, where he allegedly reached under her blouse and began groping her, according to the Times Union.
Cuomo denied the allegations in a Thursday statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“As I said previously, I have never done anything like this,” Cuomo said. “The details of this report are gut-wrenching. I am not going to speak to the specifics of this or any other allegation given the ongoing review, but I am confident in the result of the Attorney General’s report.”
The Albany Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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