Posted on 11/15/2017 2:56:03 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
A Gadsden woman says Roy Moore groped her while she was in his law office on legal business with her mother in 1991. Moore was married at that time.
In the past week, Moore has been accused by five other women of a range of behaviors that include sexual misconduct with a woman when she was 14, and sexual assault of another when she was 16. This is the first public accusation of physical contact that happened after Moore was married.
In recent days, Moore has publicly denied any wrongdoing, and has denied knowing some of the women.
In interviews with AL.com, Tina Johnson recalls that in the fall of 1991 she sat in the law office of then-attorney Roy Moore on Third Street in Gadsden. Her mother, Mary Katherine Cofield, sat in the chair next to her. Moore sat behind his desk, across from them. Johnson remembers she was wearing a black and white dress.
Almost from the moment she walked in to Moore's office, Johnson said, Moore began flirting with her.
"He kept commenting on my looks, telling me how pretty I was, how nice I looked," recalled Johnson. "He was saying that my eyes were beautiful."
It made her uncomfortable. "I was thinking, can we hurry up and get out of here?"
Johnson was 28 years old, in a difficult marriage headed toward divorce, and unemployed. She was at the office to sign over custody of her 12-year-old son to her mother, with whom he'd been living. Her mother had hired Moore to handle the custody petition.
Johnson had two young daughters at the time with her then-husband, and her son said he wanted to live with his grandmother.
At one point during the meeting, she said, Moore came around the desk and sat on the front of it, just inches from her. He was so close, she said, she could smell his breath.
According to Johnson, he asked questions about her young daughters, including what color eyes they had and if they were as pretty as she was. She said that made her feel uncomfortable, too.
Once the papers were signed, she and her mother got up to leave. After her mother walked through the door first, she said, Moore came up behind her.
It was at that point, she recalled, he grabbed her buttocks.
"He didn't pinch it; he grabbed it," said Johnson. She was so surprised she didn't say anything. She didn't tell her mother.
She said she told her sister years later how Moore had made her feel uncomfortable during that meeting. Her sister told AL.com she remembers the conversation.
Johnson reached out to AL.com earlier this week to talk about her experience with Moore.
AL.com located the court documents from 1991, detailing the custody transfer. Cofield's petition for custody is signed by Roy S. Moore, attorney. It lists his address as 924 Third Avenue, Gadsden.
Johnson has had ups and downs in her life, both before and after she met Moore. She has pled guilty to writing bad checks, and for third-degree theft of property, which she said stemmed from family disagreement over the care of her late stepfather.
Since marrying her husband, Morris Johnson, in 2010, she said she has been working to improve her life.
"I'm not perfect," she said. "I have things in my background and I know (the public) will jump on anything, but (what happed with Moore) is still the truth, and the truth will stand when the world won't."
Johnson, who is now disabled, considers herself a devout Christian and regularly attends a church near her home in Gadsden. She said she is not political and doesn't follow politics. She said she has not spoken with Moore since that day in his office, and does not know any of the five other women who have come forward with accusations against him.
"This is not a politics thing with me," she said. "It's more of a moral and religious thing." It has bothered her over the years to see Moore on TV, talking about his Christian faith.
She wanted to come forward publicly now, she said, because it's hard for victims of harassment to talk openly about their experiences.
"I want people know that it's OK to finally say something," she said. "I guess I'm ashamed I didn't say nothing, didn't turn around and slap him."
A spokesperson for the Roy Moore campaign contacted in advance had not given AL.com a response by publication time.
'All the time'
In 1982, Kelly Harrison Thorp was working as a hostess at the Red Lobster restaurant in Gadsden. She was 17 years old and a high school senior.
One day Roy Moore came into the restaurant, and she recognized him.
"He was a public figure in this small town," she said of Moore, who at the time was in his early 30s and the deputy district attorney for Etowah County. Later that year he would mount an unsuccessful campaign for circuit court judge.
Thorp said Moore asked her if she'd go out with him sometime.
"I just kind of said, 'Do you know how old I am?'" she recalled.
"And he said, 'Yeah. I go out with girls your age all the time.'"
Thorp said she turned him down and told him she had a boyfriend. She said he then walked away.
Thorp said she later told a family member but did not tell the story publicly. She moved away from Gadsden the following year, and has just recently moved back.
Thorp knows one of Moore's accusers, Leigh Corfman, who told The Washington Post that Moore had a sexual encounter with her when she was 14. Thorp believes Corfman's story and said she is proud of her for telling it publicly.
In an interview on Sean Hannity's radio show last Friday, Moore said he did not "generally" date girls in their late teens when he was in his early 30s.
"If I did, you know, I'm not going to dispute anything," he said, "but I don't remember anything like that."
Why now
As more GOP leaders - including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - are calling for Moore to step aside, he has given no indication he plans to do so. He still has a lead in most polls.
One question often levied at the accusers is why they didn't come forward publicly before now, a month away from the special election for Alabama senator. Moore has been a public and often controversial figure in Alabama politics for decades.
It's an issue both Johnson and Thorp wanted to address.
Thorp said local women have not spoken publicly against Moore before now because he had power in town and in the state, and they didn't think they would be believed.
"Everybody knew it wouldn't matter," she said, "that he would get elected anyway because his supporters are never going to believe anything bad about him."
Johnson said the answer was even more simple.
"It's because somebody asked," she said. "If anybody had asked, we would have told it. No one asked."
90%+ of Alabamans have heard the previous crap. At this point, these stories, barring hard evidence, have done all the damage they’re going to do. Now it’s just the media trying to keep it going till December 12, hoping Moore never gets a chance to talk about any real issues.
Boy, the democrats are sure scared of this guy!
Gloria Allred does not ever intend to allow any of these “clients” actually go to a judicial court. Everything is being tried in the Court of Public Opinion.
As there is no appeal, there is no opportunity to present a defense, the verdict is pronounced first, then the actual charge is only later decided upon, and in many instances is never even articulated. Guilty until proved innocent (if ever), and the accused has no standing at all. Innuendo triumphs.
Just where in hell have YOU been, cld51860.. We’ve been officially at war since Trump got the nomination.
Who is "us?"
True. The leftist propaganda media that repeats these allegations without any facts whatsoever, just hearsay, need to be sued out of existence. Every last one of them.
Alway stick with Trump. This is what happens when you don’t.
Everyone gets old pics and prints out to use. Why? Well because nobody would believe them if they looked at them now.
I know that if my mother and I were walking along and someone grabbed my butt I would have told her. She’d have probably went back in and smacked him. Lol. Regardless of how old I was.
Another $100 bill.
Another trailer park.
Another lying whore.
Nothing to see here.
They have been at war with US for a lot longer. We just di not know it.
There has been a 30 year plan put in place to steal the country from the citizens by importing foreigners.
We will not be allowed to elect anyone else who sides with the citizens and the rule of law again.
We stunned them throwing out their Majority Leader, Eric Cantor.
Trump had the wealth and fame to punch through the Bush blockade at the RNC.
They will make sure that “mistake” does not happen again.
It’s all about cementing the Bush Plan for North Mexico (aka USA) in place.
They desperately do not want US to be able to restore the rule of law and reverse the demographic changes they have instituted through non-enforcement of laws and borders.
They invited 30 million people here to change the country against the will of the citizens and they do not want US sending them home.
They will do whatever it takes to keep US from electing anyone who sides with the citizens and the rule of law.
What they really don’t want is for US to keep our country.
The final amnesty that would cement the Bush Plan for North Mexico (aka USA) into place has been sought repeatedly since 2006. They sold us Rubio to get the last one in 2013.
We have been prevented from electing anyone who would side with US and the rule of law by their control of the RNC and state parties.
The most important thing to the Uniparty is protecting the demographic changes they have made to the country against the will of the citizens.
That’s what drives the NeverTrump, the media and the Democrats hatred of Trump, it is an extension of their hatred of US.
I believe you are right, this has Cheap Labor Express Republican written all over it.
Smells like Mississippi.
Ask Frau Allred Gobbels!
apparently Moore has chased more women than even Billygoat Clinton!
imagine that!
“As there is no appeal, there is no opportunity to present a defense, the verdict is pronounced first, then the actual charge is only later decided upon, and in many instances is never even articulated. Guilty until proved innocent (if ever), and the accused has no standing at all. Innuendo triumphs.”
True with respect to this election. However, if Roy Moore is innocent he should file civil suits for slander and libel agains Alred and the women accusing him. Let them prove in court the events occurred.
And wipe the dribble off your face, Texas.
This is bs. We know it and Alabama voters know it.
Who is “us?”
In his case it’s must be DU.
So is the GOPe. maybe even more so.
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