The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a sexual assault reported by Bernadette Greene-Placentia, the Democratic nominee for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, who said she was attacked this summer while she was repairing campaign signs.
Greene-Placentia’s account and a police report were first reported by Phoenix New Times on Wednesday. According to Greene-Placentia, the assault happened around 2 a.m. in a parking lot in Sun City.
The candidate said she was hit over the head and later woke up to find a man on top of her, sexually assaulting her. She said two men were involved in the attack. She said she heard one mumble something she concluded was “Democratic bitch,” though she told the New Times she wasn’t sure that was exactly what he said.
Greene-Placentia said she told her husband and others about the attack two weeks before reporting it to the sheriff’s office. The incident report was taken on Aug. 31. She told the New Times she initially did not want to report the attack because she was “embarrassed” and wanted to “forget it happened.”
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A department spokesperson told The Washington Sun they would not comment on the incident because the investigation is ongoing. They also said the police report would not be available until after the investigation is complete.
Greene-Placentia told the New Times she had been wearing a campaign T-shirt at the time. Several of her family members, friends and campaign staff said she told them about the attack, with many of them noticing her unusual absence after the assault.
“I just tried to console her in any way I could,” Craig Beckman, Greene-Placentia’s director of communications, told the New Times. “I spent quite a lot of time explaining to her that this isn’t her fault. Just because she put herself in a vulnerable position doesn’t give a man an excuse to physically or sexually assault her.”
The campaign acknowledged The Sun’s request for comment but did not immediately respond to the inquiry.
Greene-Placentia will face Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh in November.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) shared his support for Greene-Placentia on social media Wednesday, saying he is “absolutely heartbroken to hear this news.”
“We cannot tolerate political or sexual violence in any form. Those responsible must be held accountable,” Gallego wrote on X. “Thank you for speaking out, Bernadette. We’re with you.”
Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Arizona) also expressed her support for Greene-Placentia in a post on X, saying “no one should ever have to experience such a horrific act of sexual violence.”
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