A woman who claimed she was raped by an officer who worked for the US Department of Justice has told the outlet she hopes it “helps her” to come out of the closet.
The former assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ said in a statement that the “unspoken but real reality” of what happened to her is that “it is difficult to move forward in a world where everyone can be presumed guilty, and the police can be called upon to do so.”
The story, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, comes amid growing concern about the growing prevalence of sexual violence and misconduct within the Department of Homeland Security.
“I want to speak out in hopes that by speaking out I can make a difference,” the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Times.
“I hope that this will be a stepping stone for other women who have felt the weight of the burden of this false accusation and felt the need to come to the forefront.
I hope that it helps them to come clean and to make the right decision.”
The woman said that she was working as a civilian attorney in Washington DC, where she has represented the families of 9/11 victims and survivors of sexual assault.
She said that when she first heard the allegations against the officer, she thought it was a joke.
“As soon as the story broke, I thought he was a real joke,” the unnamed woman said.
“He would say things like, ‘I was just trying to make a joke,’ and I was like, oh, I know.
That’s why I was so skeptical.
But when I heard he was the victim of a sex crime, it made me feel better.”
The unnamed woman, whose name has been changed to protect her privacy, said that after her lawyer told her about the alleged rape, she went to a police station and began recording what happened.
After the woman said she felt that she “needed to come back to the table” to be heard, she began recording herself as she was asked about the allegations.
She said she was told that the alleged victim was in the process of going to court to prove that she had been raped.
The unnamed man told the woman that he had worked as a private investigator for the department for three years.
“The conversation then turned to me saying, ‘Do you have anything to say to this officer?'” she said.
The woman, a white woman, said she initially felt “very scared” and “a little intimidated” because she was not a member of the community and had never heard about such allegations.
“But I was also very conscious that if I told the truth, this officer would be put in jail,” she said, adding that she felt “lucky” to have survived the alleged assault.
“Because I was working with someone who had been through the system, I knew that there was someone there who could help me,” she added.
The story has since been picked up by multiple media outlets including the Times and ABC News.
