Andrew Cuomo Officially Charged for Alleged Groping
The former New York governor has been accused of "forcibly touching" a victim at the Governor’s Executive Mansion in Dec. 2020.
NewsPolitics
Two months after New York governor Andrew Cuomo resigned in the wake of numerous sexual misconduct allegations, another allegation has emerged, and he has been charged with “forcible touching.”
On Thursday, the Albany Criminal Court issued Cuomo a criminal summons after Sheriff’s Investigators presented the court with evidence, according to a report in NYS Focus. The criminal summons requires Cuomo to appear in court on November 17.
In a misdemeanor complaint signed by Amy Kowalski, an investigator with the sheriff’s department, Cuomo is accused of allegedly “knowingly, and intentionally commit the class A misdemeanor of Forcible Touching in violation of section 13052 subdivision l- of the Penal Law of the State ofNew York.” The complaint does not specify who the victim is and noted that the incident allegedly occurred on “December 7,2020 between the hours of 3:51 o’clock in the afternoon and 4:07 o’clock in the afternoon” at The Governor’s Executive Mansion.
A New York Times report published on Thursday noted that former Cuomo aide Brittany Commisso had filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo earlier this year and “accused him of groping her breast while they were alone in his residence late last year.” A lawyer representing Commisso confirmed to the New York Post that she was the victim.
The complaint goes on to say that Cuomo forcibly placed “his hand under the blouse shirt of the victim and onto her intimate body part” for “no legitimate purpose.” It also notes that part of the alleged evidence against him includes a text message from Cuomo’s personal cellphone.
Forcible touching carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
News of this charge comes on the heels of the New York State attorney general’s office releasing their massive August report that confirmed Cuomo had “sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and nonconsensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.”
That report noted that Cuomo had engaged in many inappropriate behaviors ranging from groping, overly intimate hugs, kisses, and more.