(DCNF)—A Massachusetts attorney with a political career spanning decades resigned from the governing body of his state’s Democratic Party after being charged with sexually assaulting a minor.
The Massachusetts Democratic State Committee confirmed Friday that 80-year-old Robert LeBlanc of Methuen stepped down at the request of the party’s chair, the Boston Globe reported. Leblanc, who held multiple city government positions, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to state-level sex offense charges following years of allegations of inappropriate behavior toward a high school student and others.
LeBlanc is charged with child rape, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, and attempt to commit indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
The Essex County district attorney’s office told the Daily Caller News Foundation that further details on the case, including victims’ identities, are not available to the public because it involves sexual assault allegations.
The law firm representing LeBlanc told the DCNF his attorney has no comment “at this time.”
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LeBlanc was the town manager of Methuen from 1976 to 1981, a two-term city councilor at large in the 1980s and a lawyer for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, according to local media reports. He ran for councilor at large again in 2013 but lost after various sex scandals came into public view.
LeBlanc received a letter from the bookstore chain Barnes and Noble in 2002 that told him never to enter any of their stores after a police report was filed against him, CBS Boston reported. A customer told police that LeBlanc followed him into a Barnes and Noble bathroom, “stood in front of [a] urinal” and touched himself inappropriately while the customer used a stall.
In 2005, a Massachusetts high school reportedly sent LeBlanc a letter saying he was banned from the campus after a student accused him of stalking. The student alleged LeBlanc had approached him at his workplace and offered him “a massage” and only stopped bothering him after the school’s demand.
LeBlanc claimed the stories were unfounded and that he didn’t remember the alleged Barnes and Noble incident. However, he served probation over a courthouse episode in 2008 when he gave a female attorney a bear hug that made her uncomfortable, according to the Boston Herald.
A police report said LeBlanc “wrapped his arms around her midsection just below her breast,” “pulled her tightly to him pressing his pelvis against her backside” and blurted out, “Isn’t she a beautiful Republican?” A court ordered LeBlanc to write an apology letter to the woman as part of his probation.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party State Committee spokesperson told the Boston Globe that LeBlanc “hasn’t been an active member” for “many years” and that he last worked as a volunteer attorney for the committee in 2006.
A judge on Wednesday granted LeBlanc bail on conditions that he submit for booking by police, avoid contact with victims or witnesses in the case and have no unsupervised contact with minors.
