State and city leaders pull support for Suffolk DA candidate Arroyo amid sex assault allegations

BOSTON — Massachusetts senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, joined Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday in pulling their support for embattled Suffolk County District Attorney candidate Ricardo Arroyo.

A recent Boston Globe report said a high school classmate of Arroyo’s told police he had assaulted her in 2005. The newspaper also reported a second teenage girl told police that she believed Arroyo assaulted her in 2007 after she got drunk at a party.

Arroyo was not charged in either case. He says the first time he heard about the allegations was when the Boston Globe reached out to him.

In a new report published in Tuesday evening’s Globe, Arroyo’s former classmate broke her silence.

“It makes me feel sick, sick to my stomach...I see so many people continuing to endorse him without finding out more,” the woman told the Globe.

In wake of the new report, Markey, Warren, Pressley, and Wu withdrew their endorsements.

In a joint statement, Markey and Warren said, “The accusations in this case are serious, and in light of the latest victim statements reported in Tuesday evening’s Boston Globe, we have notified the campaign that we are rescinding our endorsement of Ricardo Arroyo for District Attorney.”

Wu said, “The allegations by someone who was a minor at the time are deeply troubling to me, as is newly reported information on anonymous threats she received in the past. For the district attorney to advance the reforms our communities deserve, the office must have our communities’ trust and confidence. I can no longer make a public recommendation for a candidate for this office.”

Pressley said, “The events of the past two weeks have caused renewed trauma for all involved and deeply eroded public trust in our candidates for Suffolk County District Attorney. As a result, I am no longer endorsing in this race.”

In a statement issued after the state and local leaders withdrew their endorsements, Arroyo said, “These allegations from when I was a junior in high school were investigated and led to no charges being filed. As I have maintained from the beginning, I have never, as a minor or ever, sexually assaulted anyone...I believe in truth and I want the facts to be public and for people to see the determination made by law enforcement in this matter.”

Arroyo previously accused current Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden or someone working on his behalf of leaking incomplete information to harm his reputation. Hayden’s campaign responded by saying Arroyo was “clearly caught lying multiple times to reporters as he made seemingly frantic attempts to cover up the disturbing accusations against him.”

Arroyo also called for an independent investigation into the apparent leak of documents related to the case.

This controversy comes just days before the Sept. 6 state primary.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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