Al Gore Sexual Harrassment Claim Dropped for Insufficient Evidence

PORTLAND, Ore. (CBS/AP) Al Gore learned Wednesday that he won't be facing charges of sexual harassment stemming from a claim by a masseuse that he tried to initiate "unwanted sexual contact" with her in October of 2006 while staying in a downtown Portland hotel reportedly under the pseudonym "Mr. Stone."

Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk said Wednesday an attorney representing the woman contacted police in late 2006. Schrunk said the woman refused to be interviewed by detectives and didn't want the investigation to continue.

In a transcript of the initial interview released by police, the massage therapist said she was doing requested abdominal work on Gore. She claimed he started to moan, demanded she go lower, and later grabbed her hand and shoved it toward his pubic area.

She alleged he later tried to have sex with her and began caressing her before she squirmed out of his grasp.

But according to the police report, she stopped talking to the police and canceled repeated appointments with detectives to provide additional information about the alleged assault. The last appointment in 2007 was canceled by her lawyer who indicated that the case was going to be handled civilly.

At that time detectives closed the case citing insufficient evidence. "This case is exceptionally cleared as [the woman] refuses to cooperate with the investigation or even report a crime," the report states.

But the woman apparently had a change of heart in 2009 because she contacted police again and gave another statement regarding the alleged incident, which she said took place at the upscale Hotel Lucia.

But detectives again determined that her statement lacked sufficient evidence to pursue the claim.

The woman initially told police, in 2006, that she didn't come forward sooner because she didn't want to become "a public spectacle" and have her reputation destroyed, according to the police report.

But she appears to have had another change of heart because she contacted police earlier this month requesting a copy of her statement, according to Detective Mary Wheat, a Portland police spokeswoman.

According to Wheat, the woman said she planned to take her case to the media.