The Albany Police Department has been formally notified of the allegation that Governor Andrew Cuomo has groped an employee in an incident that could be considered a crime, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The officers did not initiate an official investigation, but “contacted the victim’s lawyer and offered any other police assistance,” said a police spokesman.
“At the moment, there has been no formal criminal complaint and there is no active criminal investigation,” said spokesman Steve Smith.
Cuomo’s acting lawyer, Beth Garvey, acknowledged in a statement that state officials had referred the matter to a possible criminal investigation.
“As a matter of state policy, when allegations of physical contact are made, the agency informs the complainant that he must contact the local police department,” said Garvey.
“If they refuse, the agency has an obligation to contact and inform the department about the complaint. In this case, the person is represented by a lawyer and when the lawyer confirms that the client does not wish to make the complaint, the state notifies the police department and provides the attorney’s information.
In a statement, the New York State Police also said it “contacted the Albany Police yesterday to facilitate contact with the executive chamber regarding the alleged incident.”
It is not clear at this point whether the accusation against Cuomo is something that “reaches the level of crime or aggression,” said a source familiar with the matter.
The Albany County District Attorney’s office declined to comment, but a source said Cuomo could not be prosecuted unless his accuser cooperated with the authorities.
“The reports must come from a direct victim and be filed with a law enforcement agency, be it the prosecutor’s office or a police agency,” said the source.
The incident in question allegedly occurred at the end of last year at the Executive Mansion in Albany, the Albany Times Union reported on Wednesday.
A person familiar with the woman’s report told the newspaper that she said Cuomo put his hands under her blouse and felt her, and that she told him to stop.
The employee, who was not identified in addition to being much younger than Cuomo, was called to the 63-year-old governor’s official residence to fix a problem with her cell phone.
According to the New York Criminal Law, it is illegal to forcibly touch a person’s “private parts” to satisfy “sexual desire” or to degrade or abuse the victim.
This conduct, called “forced touching”, is a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of one year in prison.
The groping claim is the most serious to emerge from the wave of accusations that followed last month’s publication of an online essay in which former Cuomo advisor Lindsey Boylan detailed what she described as Cuomo’s pattern of sexual harassment, including kiss her “on the lips” at her office in Manhattan in 2018.
Four other women, including three former advisers, have publicly made several allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior on the part of the governor.
Cuomo’s office has made no comment since the governor – who repeatedly said he “never touched anyone inappropriately” – issued a statement late on Wednesday denying the charges in the Times Union report.
“As I said yesterday, I never did anything like this. The details of this report are distressing, ”said Cuomo.
“I will not speak about the details of this or any other allegation, given the ongoing review, but I am confident of the outcome of the Attorney General’s report.”
Cuomo promised to cooperate with the investigation and urged New Yorkers to suspend the sentence pending its conclusions.