Roy Moore was reportedly once banned from an Alabama shopping mall for bothering teen girls

  • Roy Moore was reportedly banned from a shopping mall in his hometown of Gadsden, Alabama, for pestering teenage girls when he was in his 30s, the New Yorker reported.

  • Sources cited by the publication said that Moore's presence in the mall was seen as a problem.

  • The report follows allegations that Moore engaged in sexual misconduct with several girls when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s.

  • A fifth woman told her story on Monday, accusing Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was 16.

Roy Moore was once banned from a shopping mall in Alabama for bothering teenage girls, according to a report from The New Yorker published on Monday.

Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was born in the small town of Gadsden, Alabama. He frequented the Gadsden Mall in the 1980s, New Yorker reporter Charles Bethea wrote, citing his conversations with more than a dozen Gadsden locals, including former mall employees, members of the local legal community, and a major political figure who shared their recollections of Moore.

Greg Legat, a former employee who worked at the mall from 1981 to 1985, said that Moore had been banned from the shopping center: "It started around 1979 I think," Legat told the publication. "I know the ban was already in place when I got there."

The report said that Gadsden law-enforcement officials could not confirm whether Moore had been formally banned from the Gadsden Mall, however two unnamed officers said in the report that they had long heard stories about Moore's alleged activities there.

"The general knowledge at the time when I moved here was that this guy [Moore] is a lawyer cruising around the mall for high-school dates," one of the officers was quoted as saying.

Another officer told the publication that although it was possible that Moore may not been "legally banned" from the mall, Moore's presence in the mall was seen as a problem.

The report follows a series of allegations told to The Washington Post by several women who say Moore pursued sexual relationships with them when they were in their teens and he was in his early thirties. Two of the women allegedly assaulted by Moore claimed to have first met Moore at the Gadsden Mall years before.

Several of the women said that Moore was "usually alone" when he visited the mall and was "well-dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt," according to The Post.

On Monday, a woman named Beverly Young Nelson said that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16 years old and he was in his 30s. She is the fifth woman to come forward with allegations against the Alabama Senate candidate.

Nelson, 56, said at a press conference with her attorney that she got to know Moore in the late 1970s, when she was a waitress at the Old Hickory House restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama, and he was the deputy district attorney of Etowah County. Nelson said Moore was a regular at the restaurant who often complimented her looks and would sometimes touch her long hair as she walked past his seat at the counter.

According to Nelson's account, Moore offered her a ride home after her shift ended, and Moore allegedly parked his car in between the dumpster and the back of the restaurant where Nelson worked, and began groping her. After the ordeal, Moore allegedly told Nelson "no one will ever believe you" if she told anyone about the encounter.

Moore once again denied the allegations on Monday in his first public appearance since The Post's story broke last week. His campaign previously published a statement defending him.

NOW WATCH: Trump says the Texas church shooting 'isn't a guns situation' — watch his full statement on the attack that killed 26 people

See Also:

Advertisement