What Is Alabama’s Age Of Consent? Roy Moore Accused Of Seducing 14-Year-Old

Senate candidate Roy Moore, a Republican from Alabama, has been accused by a woman of making sexual contact with her in 1979 — when she was 14 years old and he was 32 years old, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

The woman, Leigh Corfman, alleged that Moore took off her shirt and pants, kissed her and touched her over her underwear.

According to the Code of Alabama, a person commits the crime of sexual abuse in the second degree if the individual, "being 19 years old or older, subjects another person to sexual contact who is less than 16 years old, but more than 12 years old." The crime is a misdemeanor offense and punishable by up to one year in jail. The age of consent in Alabama is and was 16.

The law includes a provision for legal adults who entice a child younger than 16 years old into a home for a sexual encounter, which is a felony crime and carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. In Moore's case, the statute of limitations on both types of alleged crimes has run out.

Corfman told the Post that Moore took her to his secluded home. She further claimed that the encounter ended when Moore, who was in only his underwear, guided her hand toward his penis. Corfman then reportedly asked that he stop and requested to be taken home.

The encounter was one of several Moore allegedly had with teenage girls when he was an assistant district attorney for Etowah County in northern Alabama, according to the Post. Four women, including Corman, claimed that Moore had pursued them as teenagers. However, Corman's claims made her the youngest alleged victim, and she was the only woman to report that an encounter with Moore went beyond kissing.

“I felt responsible,” said Corfman, who never filed a police report or lawsuit. “I felt like I had done something bad. And it kind of set the course for me doing other things that were bad.”

The other women claim to have been between 16 and 18 years old at the time of their own alleged encounters.

Corfman said that she met Moore outside of a courtroom when he struck up a conversation with Corfman and her mother. Corfman’s mother was due in court, and Moore offered to keep an eye on her. Corfman said that Moore then asked for her number when her mother was gone and contacted Corfman days later.

She said they arranged two meetups during which Moore picked her up down the street from her house. The alleged sexual encounter happened on the second and last meet up.

Moore and his campaign denied the story and blamed the Democratic Party for the "political attack" in a statement to the Washington Post.

“These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” the statement read.

The Washington Post said that it approached the women about the story and not the other way around.

Moore faces Democratic opponent Doug Jones in a December special election to replace the Alabama Senate seat of now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was formally an Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice.

The accusations come on the heels of a rash of allegations of sexual assault against men in powerful positions set off by investigations into Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Reports by the New York Times and the New Yorker alleged decades of sexual abuse by Weinstein and emboldened other women in Hollywood and across other industries to come forward with their own allegations of sexual misconduct.