New accuser: Moore sexually assaulted me when I was a minor

Another woman has come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, accusing him of grabbing her when she was a minor in a restaurant parking lot while she struggled to get away from him.

During a press conference Monday with attorney Gloria Allred, Beverly Young Nelson said she was sexually assaulted by Moore when she was 16 years old.

Nelson said Moore sexually assaulted her one night after work. Moore had offered to give her a ride home after her shift at a local diner had ended, upon noticing that her boyfriend was running late to pick her up, according to Nelson’s account.

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“He noticed that my boyfriend was not there and he offered me a ride home. I trusted Mr. Moore because he was a D.A. I thought he was doing something nice by offering to drive me home,” Nelson recalled at the press conference.

But instead of driving her home, Nelson said he parked the car at the back of the restaurant, where “there were no lights,” and began groping her.

“I was alarmed and I immediately asked him what he was doing. Instead of answering my question, Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me,” she said, adding that Moore reached over and locked the car door while she yelled at him to stop and continued to try to fight him off. 

Moore then grabbed her neck and pushed her head toward his “crotch,” Nelson said.

“I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirt off. I thought that he was trying to rape me. … I had tears running down my face,” she said.

Nelson said Moore eventually gave up and threatened her that no one would believe her story.

“You’re just a child, and he said I am the district attorney of Etowah County. And if you tell anyone about this, no one will ever believe you,” Nelson says Moore said before she escaped from the car.

Nelson said she feared Moore would retaliate if she spoke out about the attack, so she kept quiet for years before confiding in her sister, mother and future husband.

“I thought he would do something to me or my family so I decided to keep what happened to myself,” she said.

After The Washington Post reported other cases of underage women also facing unwanted sexual advances from Moore, Nelson said she was inspired to speak out about an experience she would’ve otherwise taken to the grave.

“I did nothing to deserve this sexual attack. I was frightened by his power and position. I want Mr. Moore to know that he no longer has any power over me. And I no longer live in any fear of him,” she continued.

Nelson said two weeks before the attack, Moore had written in her yearbook saying: “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore, D.A.”

The yearbook and Moore’s inscription in the book were presented at the press conference. 

“This is some of the evidence that we have,” Allred said in reference to the yearbook.

Moore’s campaign released a statement blasting Allred minutes before the press conference began, while maintaining his innocence as more accusations continue to come to light. 

“Gloria Allred is a sensationalist leading a witch hunt, and she is only around to create a spectacle,” Moore’s Senate Campaign Chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement.

“We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again: Judge Moore is an innocent man and has never had any sexual misconduct with anyone,” he added.

Allred also called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Moore and question him under oath about the multiple accusations that he had sexual encounters with underage women.

Allred said her client, Nelson, is solely seeking the option to testify under oath about her experience with Moore.

Nelson also noted that she and her husband are supporters of President Trump, adding that this has nothing to do with politics.

Nelson’s allegations come after the Post reported that a woman accused Moore of initiating a sexual encounter with her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was 32.

Moore is facing growing pressure from Republicans to drop out of the Alabama Senate race. He has denied the allegations and said he plans to continue running.

– Rebecca Savransky contributed

– This report was updated at 4:06 p.m.