A married mom from the Rochester area of New York is the latest and now ninth woman to accuse Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual misconduct. 55-year-old Sherry Vill says it happened inside her Greece, New York home who encountered the Governor in 2017 when he held a press conference in her neighborhood following the flooding of Lake Ontario.
Vill claims Cuomo forcibly kissed her on both cheeks and acted in a flirtatious manner, before later having his office call her and invite her alone to an event. Attorney Gloria Allred showed photos of Cuomo kissing Vill's cheek and the alleged victim says she was afraid of retribution if she came forward.
Below is the complete news conference.
Governor Cuomo has stated that he has never touched anyone inappropriately.
Rita Glavin, a representative for Governor Cuomo released the following statement:
“During times of crisis, the Governor has frequently sought to comfort New Yorkers with hugs and kisses. As I have said before, the Governor has greeted both men and women with hugs, a kiss on the cheek, forehead or hand for the past forty years. I encourage everyone to look at other photographs from his visit to Greece, NY that day.https://www.flickr.com/photos/governorandrewcuomo/albums/72157681436495503/with/34167299663/
Nothing described at today's press conference was unique in that regard. Three other related points concerning Gloria Alfred's press conference: (1) the July 19, 2017 letter from the Governor that Ms. Allred displayed was a nearly identical follow-up form letter sent to more than 30 people that the Governor visited to support and assist following the Lake Ontario flooding, and those form letters were signed with an autopen; (2) it is a practice of the Governor’s office to send signed photos to people he meets with after events, and those photos are regularly signed with an autopen; (3) it is common for staffers to contact constituents after events and invite them to a future event on a related topic.”