Woman accuses Roy Moore of sexual assault

An Alabama woman on Monday accused Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual assault, the second woman to outline accusations of immoral and illegal behavior against the longtime politician. During a news conference in New York City, Beverly Young Nelson described Moore as a regular customer at an Alabama restaurant where she worked as a teenager during the 1970s. At that time, Moore was the 30-year-old deputy district attorney for Etowah County, Ala. Nelson claimed that in December 1977, when she was 16 years old, Moore offered her a ride home from the restaurant and tried to force himself on her in his parked car. She said Moore grabbed her breasts and squeezed her neck, forcing her head toward his crotch. Nelson said she fought his advances and he eventually let her out of the car and drove away. She said she told her sister about the incident in 1979 and told her mother about it four years ago. Nelson said the accounts from four other women in a recent Washington Post report, including a 14-year-old who accused Moore of undressing and touching her inappropriately, inspired her to come forward. She described herself as a supporter of President Donald Trump and insisted her accusations against Moore have nothing to do with the Republican Party or Alabama’s Dec. 12 special election, where Moore is running against Democrat Doug Jones for U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ old U.S. Senate seat. Through her attorney Gloria Allred, Nelson said she’s willing to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee and asked the panel to subpoena Moore to do the same. Moore’s campaign released a statement ahead of the news conference calling Allred a “sensationalist leading a witch hunt.”

Editor’s note: This article was edited to reflect that Roy Moore was deputy district attorney in Etowah County, Ala., from 1977 to 1982.