No Charges Against NYPD Boss' Son After Rape Claim

Published February 8, 2012 2:18AM (EST)

NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors have decided not to pursue charges against the police commissioner's son following a woman's claim that he raped her.

"After reviewing all of the evidence, we have determined that the facts established during our investigation do not fit the definitions of sexual assault crimes under New York criminal law," the chief of the Manhattan district attorney's office sex crimes unit, Martha Bashford, wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to an attorney for Greg Kelly.

She wrote to attorney Andrew Lankler that "no criminal charges are appropriate" against Kelly, son of New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Authorities had been investigating the woman's claim Greg Kelly, a television anchor, raped her in October. The 43-year-old co-host of the local TV morning show "Good Day New York" has vehemently denied doing anything wrong.

The prosecutor's letter said Kelly and the woman were interviewed as part of the investigation.

The woman told police she met Kelly for drinks on Oct. 8, they went to her lower Manhattan law office and he assaulted her while she wasn't capable of consenting to sex, a person familiar with the investigation has said. The woman and Kelly stayed in contact afterward, the person said.

The woman said she became pregnant from the encounter and had an abortion, according to a law enforcement official. Neither the person familiar with the investigation nor the official was authorized to speak publicly. They talked to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

The woman's boyfriend confronted the police commissioner in person at a public event, saying Greg Kelly had ruined his girlfriend's life but declining to elaborate on the spot when asked what he meant, police spokesman Paul Browne said. The commissioner suggested the boyfriend send him a letter, but the man apparently never did, Browne said.

The allegation had presented a new high-profile sex crime investigation less than six months after an attempted-rape charge against the former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn collapsed amid doubt about his accuser's trustworthiness in the biggest case of Cyrus R. Vance Jr.'s two years as district attorney. Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations against him.


By Salon Staff

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