Editor’s note: This article was updated at 2 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. Friday.
[S]tate Sen. Norman McAllister, R-Franklin, pleaded not guilty to three counts of sexual assault and three counts of a prohibited act Friday in Franklin Superior Court.
McAllister, 63, was arrested Thursday outside the Vermont Statehouse, where lawmakers are finishing work on the 2015 session and was released after posting the $20,000 bail. Officials would not confirm whether he spent Thursday night in jail. Under his conditions of release, McAllister is not allowed to contact the alleged victims.
Court documents paint a picture in which McAllister repeatedly sexually assaulted one victim on his farm property starting in the December 2012 in exchange for work and lodging. Another victim was allegedly sexually assaulted repeatedly starting in the summer of 2013 while working on the farm property and as a cleaner for McAllister in Montpelier. The two women were assaulted close to 100 times, according to court documents.
“It came to light that Mr. McAllister was offering to assist a victim who was living on his property in one of his housing units — a sister with the rent she was behind on and a sister with living arrangements — by trading sexual favors,” said Franklin County State’s Attorney Jim Hughes said. “Since late 2012, they were alleging a pattern of this behavior.”
The sexual assault charges are felonies and carry a potential sentence of 3 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $25,000. The prohibited acts charges are misdemeanors and carry a potential sentence of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100.
The State’s Attorney’s office and the Northwest Unit for Special Investigations became involved after a third victim, the first victim’s former mother-in-law, told investigators McAllister wanted her to exchange sex for her son’s half of $600 in rent to live in a trailer on McAllister’s property, court documents say.
McAllister allegedly spoke of plans to make extra money by having one victim have sex with migrant farm workers nearby. All of the alleged victims are U.S. citizens, Hughes said.
McAllister was not charged with human trafficking Friday, though those charges were considered, Hughes said. Hughes said “the behaviors could have potentially been charged, but it really did not fit the spirit of the law.”
Hughes would not rule out the possibility of more victims or additional defendants being involved as the investigation continues.
The allegations
Affidavits filed in the case suggest a pattern of sex-for-rent behavior going back at least two-and-a-half years. Court documents paint the following narrative of McAllister’s relationship with the tenants.
The first victim, 40, and and the third victim’s son were living together in the trailer on McAllister’s property. A man claiming to be the third victim’s son spoke to reporters outside the courthouse in St. Albans on Friday, saying he was concerned that he and the first victim would become homeless.
He claimed to be the first victim’s ex-husband and described McAllister as “jealous” of his relationship with her, noting that McAllister would treat her poorly in his presence. VTDigger is not naming the ex-husband to avoid identifying an alleged victim of sexual assault.
Investigators obtained a wiretap May 4, and in recorded conversations McAllister tells the third victim, 57, that her son and the first victim hadn’t paid rent in six months.
In one of the recordings the victim said she was worried McAllister would evict her son to which he responded, “Well that’s going to depend on how you are willing to please me. How’s that? Are you willing?” according to the affidavit.
Thursday, detectives met with the first alleged victim to discuss in detail the charges. During an interview, detectives learned that McAllister groped and kissed the victim when she was interviewing for a job on the farm in October 2012, records say.
The victim told McAllister said she did not have a lot of experience. She said she would be willing to do anything that was needed. McAllister said that he liked to hear that, according to the affidavit
The victim said the first sexual act she could recall occurred around the time she moved onto the farm in December 2012. According to the victim, this occurred in a barn when McAllister “bent her over a hay bale.” The sex was interrupted by another farm worker, according to the victim.
She alleges that McAllister would call or text her to have sex with him several times each month. On at least one occasion, McAllister made her perform anal sex as “punishment” for injuring another farm worker with a tractor, the documents say.
McAllister was aware, according to the affidavit, that she needed a job and a stable living environment in order to gain back custody of her children from the state. The victim claims that during the time she was having sex with McAllister he put her in touch with someone he identified as “an attorney to the Vermont Senate” to help her get custody of her children.
The victim also alleges that McAllister spoke of plans to take her to other farms in Richford to “perform sex acts on ‘Mexican’ farmhands in exchange for money.” The victim said she would not do that, and nothing transpired, according to the affidavit. That appears to be what formed the basis for the human trafficking charge state police referred to in a Thursday night news release.
In other encounters McAllister would show up at her residence unannounced, and on at least one occasion engaged in a sex act that “caused her pain,” and that he continued despite her protests, the affidavit says.
After that incident she told investigators she was uncomfortable being alone and sought company to avoid meeting McAllister while she was alone. She told investigators that, “I felt I had to do it to keep my housing.” She became pregnant in January and he became “irritated” that they weren’t having sex anymore, she told officers.
“I made it pretty clear to Norm that I didn’t want to do it. I’m not sure he ever really heard that,” she said in the documents. “I told him I felt exploited.”
In a conversation recorded by investigators Wednesday, he allegedly told the victim “I knew I was forcing you to do something you didn’t want to do.”
The victim asked “Do you feel bad that you hurt me?”
“Yeah, I didn’t mean to,” McAllister said, according to the affidavit.
Detectives also spoke with a third victim, 20, who milked goats and cleaned for McAllister. She told detectives Thursday she was forced to have sex or perform oral sex for McAllister more than 30 times.
She said she was hired in the summer of 2013. Shortly after beginning work, she said she was forced to perform oral sex on McAllister in his barn, and that he pulled her head down by her ponytail. She said on one occasion a neighbor saw the two having oral sex, the court documents say.
The victim was hired to clean McAllister’s residence in Montpelier, and sometimes she was forced to have sex there. In April, the victim told investigators McAllister pulled her into a bed after she said repeatedly she did not want to, the records say.
McAllister’s not guilty plea was entered by Brooks MacAurthur of the Burlington firm Jarvis & MacArthur. In entering the plea MacAurthur said his client would abide by the terms of his bail and the three victims were “known” to McAllister.
The senator did not speak during the proceeding or with the media after. He was accompanied by one of his sons, who also declined to be interviewed.
“We have a much different version of events,” McArthur said. “We ask people not to make any rush to judgment and I hope in short order our side of things will come to light.”
McArthur said he does not know if McAllister will return to the Senate.
According to Hughes, the state brought six charges: three counts of sexual assault, which is a felony that carries a potential life sentence, and three counts of prohibited acts, which are misdemeanors.
Arrest at the Statehouse
Thursday’s arrest rattled the collegial Vermont Legislature.
At about 5:20 p.m., shortly after the Senate vote on the education reform bill, McAllister was quietly escorted outside by two plainclothes policemen.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, said he was called outside to meet with McAllister. In an interview with reporters, Benning, who is a defense attorney based in Lyndonville, declined to describe the conversation between police and the senator.
“At that point, I was treating it as acting in the capacity as a defense attorney and for that reason I can’t talk about it any of the conversation we had,” Benning said.
Benning says he will not serve as McAllister’s defense attorney in future.
But he described how the news had affected his colleagues and said the arraignment Friday would be just the beginning of a long process in which McAllister’s guilt or innocence would be determined.
“We have this concept in this country … it’s called the presumption of innocence,” Benning said. “I know it sounds cliche but realistically, as a defense attorney, I always refer to that and I decide what the facts are after I’ve gotten the information I need to make a judgment.”
McAllister has served two terms in the Vermont Senate, beginning in 2013, and five terms in the Vermont House, beginning in 2003.
McAllister is a Franklin dairy farmer and past director of the Franklin County Farm Bureau. He is a 1971 graduate of Vermont Technical College.
Gov. Peter Shumlin was made aware of the possible charges Tuesday afternoon, but didn’t know the extent of the charges. “Frankly, I still don’t,” Shumlin said before McAllister’s arraignment. “I guess we’ll see that at 11 a.m. today.
“Obviously, the allegations are extremely troubling we’ll see what happens next,” Shumlin said.
The governor praised the Vermont State Police for not creating “lots of fanfare” when they arrested McAllister at the Statehouse.
Mark Johnson of WDEV asked the governor if it was necessary to make the arrest at the Statehouse.
“I’m going to leave that the judgment to the state police about how they deal with arrests, but when you have arrests and you have charges that are being filed that need to be acted upon, obviously you have to go where the person is,” Shumlin said.
According to his legislative biography, McAllister’s memberships include past VTC Student Council President; Franklin County Farm Bureau, Director; NW Holstein Club President; Missisquoi Amateur Hockey Director/President; Highgate Little League Director; 1981 Vermont Farm Bureau Young Farmer of the Year; 1982 Franklin County JC’s Young Farmer of the Year; NRA member.
McAllister generally maintains a low profile among the 30-member Senate, but he spoke out this session on a bill to extend certain provisions of the state’s physician-assisted suicide law.
McAllister moved to repeal the law and shared a personal story about his wife’s death in 2013 from pancreatitis.
Editor’s note: VTDigger’s Anne Galloway and Tom Brown contributed to this report.
