Republican Senate Nominee Roy Moore Accused of Sexually Abusing a 14-Year-Old Girl

The Washington Post reports that Roy Moore, Senate nominee in Alabama, has been accused of initiating a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl. Alabama’s current age of consent is 16, and was also 16 in 1979, the year of the accusation. Sexual contact with a minor in Alabama is considered misdemeanor sexual abuse, and luring a minor into a home for the purpose of initiating sexual contact, which may also apply in this situation, is a felony. Per the Post, 14-year-old Etowah County resident Leigh Corfman first met Moore, then an assistant DA, while she and her mother were at a courthouse for a child custody hearing. Moore asked for her telephone number, and picked her up near her house a few days later:

Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.

“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” she remembers thinking. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.” Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.

The Post also uncovered three other women who say that Moore attempted to “pursue” them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18. One of the women was 14 when Moore met her, and another said they went on dates that never went beyond “kissing.”
Moore has denied the allegations, and his campaign later called it “fake news”:

“These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” Moore, now 70, said.

A spokesperson in Alabama says that it’s too late to remove Moore from the ballot:

Alabama elections division spox tells me it’s “too late” to replace Moore on the ballot. Ballots already being printed; absentees already sent out.

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) November 9, 2017

UPDATE: Republican Senators are responding:

If there is any shred of truth to the allegations against Roy Moore, he should step aside immediately.

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 9, 2017

McConnell confidant Josh Holmes to WaPo re: Moore accusations. “If it’s true, the Republican Party doesn’t have any place for pedophiles and he should step down immediately,” leave race. Puts blame on Bannon and others for enabling controversial candidates.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 9, 2017

BREAKING: MCCONNELL on Roy Moore: “If these allegations are true, he must step aside.” pic.twitter.com/onUoPG1NIA

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) November 9, 2017

Sen. Toomey on Roy Moore: “If there’s a shred of truth to it, then he need to step aside.”

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 9, 2017