Woman says Gov. Cuomo forcibly kissed her cheeks in 2017

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York woman said Monday that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo grabbed her face and kissed her cheek at her home during a visit to inspect local flood damage, becoming the latest woman to accuse the embattled governor of inappropriate behavior.

Sherry Vill made the allegations during a Zoom news conference with attorney Gloria Allred, describing a spring 2017 visit to her Rochester-area home after flooding near Lake Ontario. Cuomo kissed both of her cheeks in front of family members while inspecting her flood-damaged home in what Vill felt was a “highly sexual manner.”

Then, Vill said, the governor “stopped and turned to me and said, ‘You are beautiful.’" He then inspected the damage with his staff and kissed her cheek again outside her home. “While still holding one of my hands, he forcibly grabbed my face with his other big hand and kissed my cheek,” Vill said.

“I felt like I was being manhandled,” said Vill, now 55. Vill, who is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall, said the governor towered over her.

“The way he looked at me and his body language made me very uncomfortable,” she said. “I felt he was acting in a highly flirtatious and inappropriate manner, especially in front of my family and neighbors.”

There was no immediate comment from the Cuomo administration.

A series of women, some who worked for Cuomo, have accused him of using his position of authority to sexually harass them with unwanted touching including hugs or kisses, inappropriate remarks about their looks and comments they interpreted as gauging their interest in sexual relations. Among his accusers are two aides who still work in the governor’s office. One, who has yet to speak publicly, reportedly said the governor groped her at the Executive...