Portland police admit alleged Gore grope case closed by mistake

The Portland Police Bureau has just released a statement “in an ongoing effort to be fully transparent and responsive to media inquiries regarding the investigation concerning Al Gore.” In the statement, chief Michael Reese says police never contacted Gore, nor did they contact the District Attorney’s office when accuser Molly Hagerty told her story to detectives in January 2009. Instead, the police closed the case without investigation. Now, Reese admits that was a mistake. “There should have been command level review at the time on the specifics of this case and decisions on whether the investigation should go forward.”

Police did contact the District Attorney’s office in late 2006 and early 2007, when Hagerty’s lawyer first got in touch with investigators. But at that time, Hagerty refused to tell her story, so there was little authorities could do. Then, when Hagerty told her story — in great detail — police did nothing. Only now, after the National Enquirer reported the story, have they re-opened the case.