It Was ‘Common Knowledge’ That Roy Moore Dated Teens In The Early 1980s, Says Former Co-Worker

According to attorney Teresa Jones, a former deputy prosecutor who worked for former Judge Roy Moore in the early 1980s, the controversial Republican Alabama Senate candidate did date high school-age girls when he was in his 30s. In fact, according to Jones, Roy Moore’s proclivity for teens was “common knowledge” among those close to him. As CBS reports, Jones made the comment to CNN in a piece that aired Saturday, adding that Roy Moore’s co-workers and others openly wondered why “someone his age” would spend his time engaged in youthful activities and believed that such behavior was “weird.”

“It was common knowledge that Roy dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird. We wondered why someone his age would hang out at high school football games and the mall… but you really wouldn’t say anything to someone like that.”

When Teresa Jones worked alongside Roy Moore, she was serving as deputy district attorney for Etowah County, Alabama, a post she held from 1982 to 1985, according to the website of Syprett, Meshad, Resnick, Lieb, Dumbaugh, Jones, Krotec & Westheimer, the Pennsylvania law firm of which she is currently a partner. Moore held the position of deputy district attorney in that same county from 1977 to 1982. Prior to serving as Etowah County deputy district attorney, Jones also worked closely with the office as assistant city attorney for the city of Gadsden, Alabama, the seat of the same county.

Original tweet by Teresa Jones: "I have no doubt these stories [about Roy Moore] have validity." pic.twitter.com/oPWaeKrS8W

— Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) November 11, 2017

Jones’ damning statement about Roy Moore’s past comes just days after a crushing report featured in the Washington Post shook up the GOP hopeful’s senate campaign. In the story, four separate women claimed that the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice sought them out for sexual (or at least romantic) relationships when they were in their teens and Moore was in his 30s. The youngest of his alleged sexual misconduct accusers was just 14-years-old when she claims that Moore touched her in an inappropriate and sexual manner in 1979. Roy Moore would have been 32-years-old at the time.

Roy Moore, now 70-years-old, has vehemently denied all allegations of sexual misconduct that have been levied against him, calling them “completely false” and even going so far as to accuse his accusers of being “politically motivated” to come forward with their tales of sexual abuse with the aim of stopping “a very successful campaign.” Despite his denials of wrongdoing, Moore has admitted that any adult who sexually abuses a 14-year-old “shouldn’t be a candidate for the U.S. Senate.” The scandal has blown up so far that the White House has even opted to weigh in, suggesting that Moore should drop out of the race if the allegations against him are true.

Correction – not a tweet but a comment on a Gadsden Times article, her local paper. Jones has spoken to CNN and confirmed the claim.

— Marissa ???? (@mariss716) November 11, 2017

“…like most Americans the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life. However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”

While former Judge Roy Moore has denied sexual misconduct with teenage girls, New York Daily News reports that the Republican Senate hopeful doesn’t deny that he may have romantically pursued and even dated much younger females when he first returned from military service. In a Hannity interview on Friday, Moore claimed that he can’t remember “dating any girl without the permission of her mother,” that he dated “a lot of young ladies,” but “not generally” 16- or 17-year-olds.

Moore has admitted to knowing “several” of his four accusers, but claims that he doesn’t remember dating them. He has publicly denied speaking to or ever having contact with Leigh Corfman, the woman who claims that Moore sexually touched her when she was just 14-years-old. According to Corfman, Roy Moore plied her with alcohol, took off her clothes and molested her during their 1979 encounter.

“I’ve never talked to her. I’ve never had any contact with her.”

Roy Moore's colleague, former deputy district attorney Teresa Jones, says it was "common knowledge" he dated teens. https://t.co/UkW49jOdIl

— That Barb (@americanbabs) November 12, 2017

Even if Roy Moore was to drop out of the upcoming special election (slated to take place December 12) to fill current Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ vacated Senate seat, as so many of his Republican colleagues have called on him to do, his name would remain on the Alabama special election ballot alongside Democratic challenger Doug Jones. The sexual misconduct allegations levied against Moore are a stark contrast to the righteous, Christian, morality-spouting image that the former judge has cultivated for himself during his years in politics. Over the course of his current Senate campaign, Roy Moore has publicly proclaimed that transgender Americans should have no rights and that homosexuality should be a crime.

What do you think of Teresa Jones’ claim that it was “common knowledge” that Roy Moore dated teen girls during the same time period that he’s accused of sexual misconduct against a 14-year-old girl? Does it substantiate the alleged victim’s claims, or is it just more “he said, she said”? Is it time for Moore to drop out of the Senate race, or should he fight on? Let us know in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Brynn Anderson/AP Images]