Defiant AG Curtis Hill refuses to resign; two women speak publicly about allegations

Show Caption Hide Caption Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill faces allegations of inappropriate touching A state representative has spoken out with allegations.

A defiant Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said Friday he would not resign amid allegations that he inappropriately touched four women at a bar.

Three of Indiana's top Republican leaders, including Gov. Eric Holcomb, released coordinated statements Thursday night demanding that Hill step down from the office he has held for less than two years.

But instead of heeding the calls, Hill double-downed on his assertion that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and called for a "thorough" investigation into the claims against him.

"I now stand falsely accused of some of the same crimes I spent 28 years prosecuting," he said in a statement first posted on his Twitter account. "I am not resigning. The allegations against me are vicious and false."

Conservative roots: A look at Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill's first year in office

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Hill's strong words were bookmarked by two newly published accounts of the night in question.

Two alleged victims speak publicly for first time

Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, a Democrat from Munster, and Gabrielle McLemore, communications director for the Indiana Senate Democrats, on Friday publicly identified themselves as two of Hill's alleged victims.

Both sent op-ed letters to IndyStar.

"I am not anonymous," Candelaria Reardon said in her letter. "I am a wife, mother, business owner and a state representative. I am also a victim of sexual battery, perpetrated by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill."

McLemore, in her letter, detailed her encounter with Hill by saying: "I was trapped both physically and mentally by the state's highest law enforcement official."

The women's accusations were first detailed in an eight-page confidential memo obtained by IndyStar on Monday. The June 18 memo, prepared by outside legal counsel at the request of legislative leaders, summarizes interviews with six women, four of whom say Hill touched them inappropriately.

Reardon claims Hill "grabbed" her buttocks. McLemore alleges Hill "cornered" her on a bar stool and began rubbing her back.

Curtis Hill fires back at fellow Republicans

Hill, the state's top legal officer, criticized his fellow Republicans and others who have called on him to resign in the wake of that memo being made public — a growing list that includes Holcomb, House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate leader David Long.

"Elected officials have called for my resignation without affording me any due process or conducting an actual, fair and independent investigation," Hill said.

He also took a shot at Holcomb, who joined legislative leaders Thursday in asking Indiana Inspector General Lori Torres to investigate the groping allegations.

“The fact that the governor, who appoints the inspector general, has already determined the outcome of the investigation eliminates the ability of the inspector general to conduct a fair and independent investigation," Hill said.

Instead, Hill demanded "an independent investigation by the Marion County prosecutor’s office, where my constitutional rights are respected and protected."

"Once the investigation is complete and I am exonerated, I would hope that my good name is properly restored with the same vigor with which it has been tarnished," he said.

The Marion County prosecutor's office on Friday said it hasn't heard from Hill's office.

A spokeswoman for the office said officials there learned of Hill's request for independent investigation through media reports.

"We will review this new information to determine the appropriate next step," spokeswoman Peg McLeish said in an email.

The #MeToo movement comes to Indiana's Statehouse

Hill, a rising star in Republican politics, has had a rocky relationship with other top Republicans, clashing with Holcomb over the need for needle exchanges, opposing an effort by Holcomb's handpicked state GOP chairman to broaden the party's platform on marriage, and issuing an opinion on the legality of CBD oil without being asked.

But such open warfare among Indiana's dominant Republican party is rare — and a clear sign that the #metoo movement has hit the Indiana Statehouse with full force.

What Candelaria Reardon and McLemore allege

In her letter to IndyStar and other media outlets, Reardon said she was at an Indianapolis bar celebrating the end of the legislative session when Hill "placed his hand on my back and slid his hand down to my buttocks and grabbed it."

She told him to "back off," she said, but he approached her later that night and put his hand on her back again and said, "That skin. That back."

"I recoiled away before he could touch my buttocks again," she said.

In her letter, she accused Hill of sexual battery, a Level 6 felony that carries a penalty of six months to 2.5 years of incarceration and a fine of up to $10,000.

"I speak out now, to support the other victims of Attorney General Curtis Hill, who have not yet found their voice," she said.

More: Curtis Hill and 13 other Indiana politicians caught in alleged sexual misconduct controversies

McLemore opened her letter explaining that the night was supposed to be a celebration, following the successful defeat of a bill her Democrat colleagues had fought for months.

She said she was approached halfway through the evening by Hill, who asked, 'Do you know who I am?'

He pulled up a stool next to her and began rubbing her back, she said.

Her first thoughts: "What will people think if they see this interaction? Will they think I beckoned him over? Will they make quick judgments that I was flirting with him? Would they assume I enjoyed the attention?"

According to the June 18 memo, another legislative staffer told legislative leaders Hill groped her buttocks, even after she tried to remove his hand. A fourth said Hill hugged her to him.

Several women also said Hill told women at the bar they needed to show more skin or leg to receive free drinks or faster service.

Hill said in his statement that he hopes an independent investigation will "exonerate" him.

"At no time did I ever grab or touch anyone inappropriately," he said in his statement Friday. "The lack of fairness and the failure to recognize my constitutional rights are a complete travesty."