A new report suggests Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore was banned from a local mall in the early 1980s because he tried to pick up teenage girls.
According to The New Yorker, Moore — the Republican candidate in a race that has gained national attention — frequented the Gadsden Mall in Gadsden, Alabama, when he worked as a prosecutor for the district attorney's office. Citing several sources in law enforcement, politics, and at the mall itself, The New Yorker's Charles Bethea reported Moore may have been banned from the mall because of his actions.
"It's a rumor I've heard for years," Teresa Jones, a former deputy district attorney for Etowah County, told Bethea regarding the alleged ban.
Former mall employee Greg Legat told Bethea about a conversation he once had with a former Gadsden police officer named J.D. Thomas.
"J.D. was a fixture there, when I was working at the store," Legat said. "He really looked after the kids there. He was a good guy. J.D. told me, 'If you see Roy, let me know. He's banned from the mall. If you see Moore here, tell me. I'll take care of him.'"
Several women have come forward in recent days to allege Moore had sexual contact or tried to begin a romantic relationship with them when they were teenagers. Two of the allegations date back to when the women were minors, which in Alabama is under age 16.
Many Republicans have asked Moore to step aside from the race, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.