February 4, 2010 10:15 AM

Scott Lee Cohen: I Didn't Know Girlfriend Was Prostitute, Didn't Attack Her with Knife

By
Neil Katz
Topics
Daily Blotter
(Facebook)
NEW YORK (CBS) Scott Lee Cohen, millionaire pawnbroker and Democratic candidate for Illinois Lieutenant Governor, said he isn't worried one bit about a 2005 arrest for allegedly threatening his then girlfriend with a knife, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Nor did he seem fazed that his 24-year-old former lover was a prostitute. Cohen, through a spokesman, said he thought she was a massage therapist, according to the paper. She pled guilty to a prostitution charge the same month she accused Cohen of putting a knife to her throat.

The paper claims that in a 2005 arrest report, police said they observed "mild abrasions from a knife wound" and "minor scars on her hand from trying to defend herself against the arrestee swinging the knife at her."

True?

Campaign spokesman Phil Molfese told the paper, "These are accusations of what she says happened, but that is not what happened." The case was eventually dropped, he said.

As for Cohen, he told the Chicago Tribune, "I was going through a horrible time in my life and I got involved with the wrong crowd, and there was a tumultuous relationship."

Perhaps, but will the Illinois voters see it that way?


.
Latest CBS News Headlines Popular CBS News Stories
on Facebook Most Discussed Stories
on CBS News

Follow Crimesider

Scroll Left
Scroll Right More »
48 Hours New iPad app A perfect companion to TV's most popular true-crime series.
CBS News on Facebook
  • Building You a Better Morning

  • CBS This Morning

    "CBS This Morning," anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET and at the same time in other time zones.
    Learn more...