Seattle mayor denies sexually abusing a minor

The mayor of Seattle is accused of sexually abusing a minor in a case that dates back three decades

LOS ANGELES: The mayor of Seattle in the US state of Washington is accused of sexually abusing a minor in a case that dates back three decades, allegations he vehemently denied Friday.

The lawsuit was filed in King County Superior Court under the man's initials "D H" The plaintiff, who is now 46, alleges that Seattle Mayor Ed Murray paid him for sex when the man was a 15-year-old drug-addicted, homeless teenager.



According to the lawsuit, Murray met and befriended D H on a bus, invited the teenager to his home and propositioned him for sex in exchange for money.

Because the adolescent was addicted to drugs, the complaint said, he was "willing to do whatever Mr Murray asked for as little as $10-20."
Court documents say that encounters between the two "continued for an extended period of time."

Murray, a progressive and openly homosexual Democrat who is running for re-election this year, told journalists that the accusations were "simply not true," saying that they were "painful for me, for my husband."

"I understand the individual making these allegations is troubled," said the mayor, who is 61 years old. "To be on the receiving end of such untrue allegations is very painful for me."

He vowed to continue his bid to stay the city's mayor: "I will continue to run this city; I will continue to run for re-election," he said.

"Things have never come easy to me in life, but I have never backed down and I will not back down."

Jeffrey Simpson, 49, also accused the mayor of having sexually assaulted him as a minor.

The resident of Portland, in the neighboring state of Oregon, spoke on local television without revealing his face.



The mayor's lawyer Robert Sulkin dismissed the accusations and noted the timing of the lawsuit: "I don't think it's a coincidence that these allegations have occurred in the midst of a mayoral campaign."

In a letter to Sulkin dated Friday, the lawyer of D H, Lincoln Beauregard, said his client was ready to make a filmed statement as soon as possible, potentially next week.