Kopp to talk about Kenai years

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: July 22, 2008 - 2:53 pm

From David Hulen, ADN state/local news editor --

This coming up shortly: "Department of Public Safety Commissioner Charles Kopp will have a press availability for news media at 3 p.m. today to make a statement concerning the claims levied against him while he was with the Kenai Police Department. Kenai Mayor Pat Porter will attend in support of her former police chief."

Check back for updates.

Last week, we reported Kopp disputed accusations that he sexually harrassed a former employee while he was Kenai police chief. Here's the letter, at the time, from the city of Kenai to the woman who accused Kopp of harassment.

KTUU reported on the complaint again last night, and has audio of the woman describing what she says happened.

"He started off just by asking for hugs from time to time, saying, 'Do I get my hug today? Do I get my hug today?' and it seemed odd but I complied," she told KTUU. The station did not name her.

The station reported: "The woman claims after numerous hugs Kopp then kissed her. She says there was a witness to the incident."

"We were in his office and he asked if he could get his hug and so I kind of -- by this time I had grown very uncomfortable with the hugs," the woman told KTUU. "I leaned in for a very light hug and pulled away -- and he pulled me back to him and kissed me on the right cheek just as another officer was walking into the room bringing him a cup of coffee."

From our story last week:

Stories of inappropriate conduct by Kopp toward a former employee surfaced after Gov. Sarah Palin abruptly replaced commissioner Walt Monegan with Kopp on Friday.

Asked at a press conference to get his side of the sexual harassment allegations, Kopp responded: "There has never been a sexual harassment allegation that resulted in a lawsuit or a settlement by the city of Kenai."

Asked how many complaints have been filed against him, he said: "I do not have a history of complaints. Obviously, there has been a source that has talked about an incident, and anything that would be a personnel matter with another individual I would not be able to comment on. But, again, I just want to encourage you guys, there is absolutely nothing in my record that I'm ashamed of. There's no skeletons in my closet."

Asked again how many complaints have there been, Kopp said: "There's only one that I've ever been, ah, that has ever happened. Period. And I don't want to comment on that."

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