It’s a long way to fall from grace when you are former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who emerged during the early days of the pandemic as a hero to the nation. On the heels of numerous charges of sexual harassment from eleven women, Governor Cuomo resigned in disgrace in August and is now facing charges of forcible touching. The charges, however, are a misdemeanor.
The forcible touching charges allegedly occurred at the Executive Mansion in December 2020. Cuomo is now due in a New York court on November 17 to answer to this charge, but unlike the broadcast speculations from mainstream to streaming television news, don’t expect the former governor to make a perp walk.
Instead, he’ll be fingerprinted and photographed in private, like most people facing similar charges.
Speaking on Talk 1300 radio, New York Sheriff Craig AppleSr. said, “We're not looking to showboat anything.”
As per not notifying either Cuomo or the victim before the charges were filed, Apple added, "We didn't want everybody to know exactly what we were doing because we didn't want all this circus, and needless to say the documents are filed in police court and somebody from court leaked the document immediately.”
In the complaint, New York State police officer and criminal investigator Amy Kowalski said that on December 7, 2020, “Andrew M. Cuomo did knowingly, and intentionally commit the class A misdemeanor of Forcible Touching in violation of section 13052 subdivision 1-of the Penal Law of the State of New York.”
Specifically, Cuomo is being accused in court documents of “intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly placing his hand under the blouse shirt of the victim and onto her intimate body part. Specifically, the victim’s left breast for the purposes of degrading and gratifying his sexual desires, all contrary to the provisions of the statute in such case made and provided.”
Cuomo denies this allegation and all allegations of breaking sexual harassment laws, saying publicly that he “never touched anyone inappropriately … and… never made any inappropriate advances” while also stating “no one ever told me at the time that I made them feel uncomfortable.”
Forcible touching is a Class A misdemeanor. If the former Governor is convicted, he may be sentenced to up to a year in prison and/or up to three years of probation.
Albany County District Attorney David Soares, the Albany County District Attorney whose office will try this case, released a statement saying he did not have prior knowledge of Apple’s plans to lodge the complaint.
“Like the rest of the public, we were surprised to learn today that a criminal complaint was filed in Albany City Court by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office against Andrew Cuomo,” Soares said in a statement.
“The Office of Court Administration has since made that filing public. Our office will not be commenting further on this case.”
Rita Glavin, Cuomo’s attorney, also released a statement saying, “Governor Cuomo has never assaulted anyone, and Sheriff Apple’s motives here are patently improper.”
In August, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a scathing, 165-page report about Cuomo’s behavior, saying Cuomo “violated federal and state law.”
The report was published after investigators interviews interviewed 179 witnesses and studied tens of thousands of documents. The official report stated that Cuomo’s office was overrun with intimidation and was a “hostile work environment.”
Allegations made in James’ official report claim then-Governor Cuomo “engaged in nonconsensual touching, groping, kissing and hugging, and made inappropriate comments toward numerous women.”
It is expected many more of the alleged eleven victims will also be filing lawsuits against the former governor.
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