A ninth woman has come forward to accuse New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual misconduct, claiming he 'aggressively' kisse...
A ninth woman has come forward to accuse New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual misconduct, claiming he 'aggressively' kissed her on both cheeks but not on the lips while touring her flooded home in upstate New York in 2017.
Sherry Vill, 55, appeared at a Zoom press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred on Monday. She says Cuomo grabbed her face and kissed her on both cheeks, 'aggressively and in a sexual manner' in 2017 while he was touring her home in Greece, a town upstate near Rochester, after it flooded.
She claims she felt uncomfortable about it at the time. Her daughter posted a photo of it on Facebook, saying 'the governor kissing my mom', but she is only speaking out now after hearing from eight other women who say he was inappropriate with them.
She had been asked if she'd allow him into her house to look at the damage for a photo opp. She agreed but said once he was inside, he was 'inappropriate' and 'came onto her'.
Allred held up multiple photos from the day in question - May 28, 2017 - including one where he is shown holding both her cheeks and kissing one of them.
Vill said: 'He looked at me, approached me, took my hand and pulled me to him. He leaned down over me and kissed my cheek.
'I thought he was going to pet my dog but Instead he wedged his face between the dog and mine and kissed my other cheek in what I thought was a highly sexual manner.
'He said, "that's what Italians do. Kiss both cheeks."'
Sherry Vill shared this image of Governor Cuomo kissing her on both cheeks in 2017 when touring her house which had flooded
Sherry Vill, 55, appeared at a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred on Monday. She says he grabbed her face and kissed her in 2017
Vill added that she is Italian and would never greet a stranger that way.
She said that after the initial kissing on her cheeks, he kissed her on another cheek again in front of the house and told her she was beautiful.
'He leaned down on top of me, he forcibly grabbed my face and kissed my cheek - again in a very aggressive manner - I felt like I was being manhandled.
'I couldn't use my other hand to stop him. I was holding my dog with my other and the way he looked at me. I felt he was acting in a highly flirtatious and inappropriate manner. There was nothing I could do.
'I felt as though he was coming on to me in my own home,' she said.
Vill had agreed to let the governor and his staff inside her home to look at the damage after it flooded
Vill said the governor was 'inappropriate' and made her feel 'uncomfortable' throughout
After the initial visit, she said she received a letter from Cuomo's office with photos of the pair that his office took, and that he invited her to an event. She said no one else in the family was invited and that it raised 'alarm bells'.
Vill is not pressing charges nor is she suing. She said she only wants to cooperate with the Attorney General's investigation into him and that she feels what happened to her should be included in it.
She is a businesswoman, mother-of-three and has been married for years, Allred said.
She is the ninth woman to accuse the embattled governor of sexual misconduct.
Others have complained about a toxic work environment they say he created.
Despite the mounting allegations and an ongoing investigation by the New York Attorney General's office, Cuomo is refusing to stand down.
He says he has never forced himself on anyone and that at worst, his affectionate and playful nature may have been misinterpreted.
The new accuser's claim is among the most serious.
The most serious was made anonymously by a woman who says the governor put his hand inside her shirt and fondled her breast.
Others, including former staffer Lindsey Boylan and Charlotte Bennett, say he was inappropriate with them.
Bennett says he made it clear to her that he would sleep with her despite there being some 40 years between them in age.
Reporter Valerie Bauman has also tweeted that Cuomo made her feel 'uncomfortable' but said he never touched her or made remarks that she felt she should report to her boss or anyone else.
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