Records outline sex assault case against senator
ST. ALBANS – A Vermont state senator has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of sexual assault and three misdemeanors of prohibited acts, the charges arising from what police describe as a sex-for-rent scheme involving several unwilling tenants.
Prosecutors allege Sen. Norman H. McAllister, R-Franklin, over a period of several years sexually assaulted two women who were his tenants and employees, and that he attempted to solicit a third woman. That woman called police this week, launching a fast-moving investigation that by Friday was reverberating throughout the state capital of Montpelier.
The allegations, explained in sometimes graphic detail in court papers, shocked the governor and McAllister's Statehouse colleagues, several of whom witnessed his arrest outside the Capitol on Thursday evening.
McAllister, 63, of Highgate was arraigned shortly after 11 a.m. Friday in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans. He was charged with three counts of sexual assault and three of prohibited acts. The charges carry a possible maximum sentence of life in prison.
One of nine Republicans in the 30-member Senate, McAllister was released on $20,000 bail after being jailed Thursday night at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town. He arrived for Friday's court hearing and walked through a crowd of journalists without comment.
After the arraignment, defense lawyer Brooks McArthur urged the public not to condemn McAllister before all the facts are known.
"We ask people not to rush to judgment," McArthur said. "I hope in short order that our side of things will come to light."
Neither the lawyer nor the suspect would comment on whether McAllister planned to resign his Senate seat.
The charges allege that McAllister sought sex instead of rent payments from two women, neither of whom wished to participate. The authorities also say that McAllister, a longtime dairy and goat farmer, told at least one of the women that she could make money for herself and for McAllister and reduce her rent payments by having sex with Mexican farm workers. The woman refused, and McAllister dropped the issue, court papers state.
Court papers also describe a third victim, whom McAllister is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting since 2013. The Burlington Free Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault without their consent.
State police said Thursday night that McAllister had been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, but Franklin County State's Attorney Jim Hughes said Friday after reviewing the police paperwork he opted not to proceed on those charges.
McAllister is in the midst of his second two-year term as a Republican senator covering most of Franklin County and the town of Alburgh in Grand Isle County. He previously served in the House.
In Montpelier on Friday, conversation about McAllister echoed through the corridors and chambers of the Statehouse. Everyone, it seemed, was talking about the case.
Gov. Peter Shumlin said he learned Tuesday afternoon of the case against McAllister.
"I don't remember any lawmaker ever being arrested in my life in public service in Vermont," Shumlin said. "Obviously, it's extremely troubling."
The Burlington Free Press was first to report news of McAllister's arrest and the accusations against him.
Only a week remains in the legislative session. If McAllister does resign, Shumlin would be responsible for appointing a replacement. For now, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott said, McAllister remains a senator and is free to return to the Statehouse.
According to court papers, the investigation into McAllister's conduct began Monday, and over the following days, police had two of the women place recorded phone calls to the senator. In the conversations, which are quoted in a sworn police affidavit prepared by Detective Sgt. Benjamin Katz of the Vermont State Police, McAllister made allusions to exchanging sex for rent payments he is due.
He also apologizes to one of the women for sex acts that caused her physical and emotional pain — including one incident that was described in court papers as occurring to punish her for injuring one of McAllister's farm workers with a tractor — and for forcing her to participate in unwelcome sexual conduct, Katz wrote.
"I knew I was forcing you to do something you didn't want to do," McAllister told the woman, according to the affidavit.
McAllister was released Friday on conditions including that he have no contact with any of the alleged victims.
The allegations
Police began investigating May 4, when a woman told authorities that McAllister, her landlord, had suggested she could have sex with him in lieu of paying for rent for the trailer she lived in with relatives. The woman told police McAllister indicated that if she agreed, he would discount her rent from $600 per month to $300.
McAllister, according to the woman, said the acts would have to take place before 10 a.m. on Mondays, because he must depart at that time for Montpelier to serve in the Senate.
Police on Monday afternoon used the woman's testimony to secure a warrant for a wiretap.
During a recorded conversation Monday, police said McAllister reaffirmed his rent-for-sex proposition and said the woman's son would be permitted to stay in the trailer. But the senator refused the woman's request to help her get out of a traffic ticket, the affidavit stated.
"Guys get prosecuted for doing that," McAllister said, according to police.
From a separate recorded conversation, police learned that McAllister might have had a similar arrangement with a relative of the first woman. The state police interviewed the second woman Tuesday at the St. Albans barracks, where she said she moved into a trailer in Franklin owned by McAllister in December 2012, and also worked on the farm.
The second woman said that from the start of her employment, McAllister "would ask her for sexual favors in exchange for her continuing to live and work at the property."
According to the affidavit, McAllister and the second woman engaged in sexual acts several dozen times from 2013 to this May, some of which caused her "physical and emotional pain."
Police also allege that McAllister asked the second woman if she would be interested in traveling with him to several farms in the Richford area to have sex with migrant farm laborers in exchange for cash. McAllister said he and the woman could split the profits, but she refused the offer, court papers state.
The woman also told police that McAllister "had an associate of his engage in sex acts" with her sometime in the fall of 2013, for which the associate paid McAllister.
Third victim
A separate affidavit authored by Detective Trooper Drew Cota identifies a third victim, who told police that McAllister forced her to perform a variety sexual acts on about 30 occasions from 2013 to this April.
Police said the third woman began working on McAllister's farm in the summer of 2013, shortly after graduating. Police did not indicate whether this referred to high school or college.
Court papers do not include any reference to a sex-for-rent or other quid pro quo arrangement between McAllister and the woman. She told police that in each sexual encounter, she told McAllister to stop.
"I was screaming 'no' at him and he still, yes, he still went for it," the woman said, according to the affidavit.
Senators intervene
McAllister was arrested late Thursday afternoon following a day at the Statehouse working on legislative issues. State police plainclothes detectives confronted McAllister outside the Capitol during a break in debate, brought him to a police car and began to interview him when two state senators intervened and put a stop to the questioning, according to the account by Katz, the detective.
Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, a lawyer, approached the police car first and asked to speak with McAllister. She then went inside and returned with Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, the minority leader. Benning, a criminal defense attorney, met with McAllister for a few minutes, then spoke with Katz and "advised me that McAllister would not be speaking any more," the detective wrote.
Police then took McAllister into custody for fingerprinting and photographing at the state police barracks in St. Albans.
Benning said someone whom the senator declined to identify asked him to assist McAllister.
"I didn't know what was happening," Benning said. "When I understood what was happening, I went into attorney mode."
Benning said attorney-client privilege bars him from discussing the conversation he had with McAllister.
The minority leader added that he would have done the same for anyone in that situation, "lawmaker or not."
Flory said she has represented McAllister in previous civil cases.
"Frankly, I thought it had something to do with his kids," she said. "I had no idea what it was about."
Asked whether McAllister gained an advantage by being arrested at the Statehouse, where attorneys are widely available, Flory said," I wouldn't say he had any advantage. As soon as you are put under arrest, you are informed you have a right to an attorney."
Montpelier reacts
McAllister's colleagues expressed shock and disbelief.
"These allegations are serious and my concern lies with any victims of the alleged conduct," Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell, D-Windsor, said in a statement. "At this time it is premature to make further comment as the public has not been provided with all the facts. The place for judgment is in the court system and I have confidence that our justice system will provide an appropriate response to any proven wrongdoing."
Conversation was widespread throughout the Statehouse while their colleague appeared in court 60 miles to the northwest.
"In general, there is shock and a hope that it's not true," said Sen. David Zuckerman, P/D-Chittenden, who served on the Agriculture Committee with McAllister. "We need to have patience and learn the facts."
In McAllister's absence, Sen. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin, was alone in representing Franklin County during Senate floor debate Friday on an education bill and other legislation.
"The situation is still confusing for a lot of folks," Degree said. "Even through that, we have important business in front of us in the Senate that we have to focus on. My job is to focus on working for Franklin County and make sure representation is maintained through this difficult time."
Benning, R-Caledonia, the minority leader, declined to speculate on what the Republican Party would do if McAllister were convicted.
"We are months away from knowing exactly what happened," Benning said. "As far as the party, I think it's premature to make a decision. Sen. McAllister is a very hardworking individual and has lived up to the expectations of his constituents, and that has to be measured against anything he is found innocent or guilty of."
Many of Franklin County's representatives in the House declined to comment on McAllister's arrest, saying they lacked enough information to do so.
In the Senate, McAllister serves on both the Agriculture and Institutions committees.
McAllister spoke to his colleagues in the Senate this spring during debate over assisted-suicide legislation about the death of his wife.
A well-known conservative, McAllister has backed legislation including a bill requiring those receiving public assistance to submit to drug testing. The bill would make substance-abuse treatment available to recipients who test positive.
If McAllister were to resign, Gov. Shumlin would appoint a replacement. The new lawmaker could be from any political party. The governor's spokesman, Scott Coriell, said he could offer no speculation about what might happen.
Governors traditionally have appointed lawmakers affiliated with the same political party as thepredecessor, said Rep. Patti Komline, R-Dorset.
Contributing: Mike Donoghue and Emilie Stigliani of the Free Press.
Correction/clarification
This post has been updated to reflect the following: Sen. Norm McAllister has been charged with three felony counts of sexual assault and three misdemeanors of prohibited acts. The prohibited acts charges were described incorrectly as felonies in an earlier version of this story.