The Albany County Sheriff said Saturday there could be “a couple” of misdemeanor charges stemming from a criminal complaint filed by one of Gov. Cuomo’s accusers, an assistant who said in a new interview that “what he did to me was a crime.”
“He broke the law,” the woman told the Albany Times Union and CBS News, speaking for the first time since Attorney General Letitia James released the findings of an independent report Tuesday alleging the aide was one of 11 women to have been sexually harassed by Cuomo. “CBS This Morning” will broadcast the full interview Monday at 7 a.m.
The aide, identified only as “Executive Assistant #1” in the scathing James report, filed a criminal complaint with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple on Thursday.
During a Saturday press conference in Albany, Apple signaled he believed her.
“At this point, I’m very comfortable and safe saying she is, in fact, a victim,” he said.
Apple emphasized that his office’s investigation of the woman’s account of sexual harassment was in the “very infant stage.”
“From what I have read so far, I can say we’re floating around a misdemeanor, but that’s just from the attorney general’s report,” Apple said. “We haven’t had an in depth interview with her.”
He said he had requested investigative material from James’ office and that the woman would be brought in for an interview.
Fabien Levy, a spokesman for James, said the Attorney General’s Office “will cooperate fully with the Albany sheriff and turn over all evidence related to this complainant. Similarly, we will cooperate with all law-enforcement agencies, as appropriate.”
The aide made the most serious accusation among the 11 current and former state employees, alleging in the report that Cuomo pulled her in for a hug and reached under her blouse to fondle one of her breasts in the Executive Mansion in Albany sometime in November 2020.
“For over three months, Executive Assistant #1 kept this groping incident to herself and planned to take it ‘to the grave,’ but found herself becoming emotional (in a way that was visible to her colleagues in the Executive Chamber) while watching the Governor state, at a press conference on March 3, 2021, that he had never ‘touched anyone inappropriately,’ ” the report says.
The woman confided in colleagues, who told staff members in the Governor’s Office, according to the report.
Rita Glavin, the governor’s personal lawyer, flatly refuted the woman’s claim during a Saturday night interview on CNN.
“He did not grope her,” Glavin said.
Glavin said an allegation by another of the 11 women, a state trooper on the governor’s protective detail, may have been true. The trooper claimed Cuomo ran his finger down the middle of her back and said, “Hey, you.”
“The governor may have very well touched the state trooper’s back,” she said. “And she may have understood it one way and he understood it another way.”
Glavin said Cuomo would “soon” personally address the trooper’s allegations, which also include a claim that he ran his hand over her abdomen.
Cuomo was spotted Saturday outside the Executive Mansion walking with his dog, Captain, while holding a phone to his ear.
