Law enforcement arrested Dr. Thomas Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on charges of forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment Friday.
Frieden turned himself in to the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Unit on Friday morning, reported Fox News.
The three charges stem from a complaint that a woman filed in July against Frieden. The complaint was related to an incident in October 2017. The 55-year-old woman alleges that Frieden, 57, groped her in his apartment in Brooklyn, according to Reuters.
The woman was leaving Frieden’s home after a dinner party and had known him for “several years” according to law enforcement, reported CNN.
Frieden was appointed to head the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) by former President Barack Obama in 2009 while he was serving as New York City’s health commissioner. He left when President Donald Trump took office in 2017.
Frieden is currently the CEO of a health nonprofit called Resolve to Save Lives. The $225 million initiative is funded by the philanthropic endeavors of Michael Bloomberg, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill and Melinda Gates. (RELATED: How The Opioid Epidemic Is Taking Its Toll On Families)
José L. Castro, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives’ parent organization Vital Strategies, has “full confidence” in Frieden, he said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation Friday.
“I have known and worked closely with Dr. Frieden for nearly 30 years and have seen first-hand that he has the highest ethical standards both personally and professionally,” Castro told TheDCNF.
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