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Federal Judge Pleads Not Guilty to More Sex Abuse Charges
Samuel Kent is accused of sexually abusing two court employees.
Jan. 7, 2009— -- A federal judge in Texas who was indicted last year for allegedly sexually abusing his former case manager pleaded not guilty today to additional charges that he sexually abused a second court employee.
U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, believed to be the first federal judge ever charged for a federal sex crime, was originally indicted in August by a grand jury in Texas for allegedly making unwanted sexual advances to his former case manager.
On Tuesday, the grand jury added three new charges against him -- aggravated sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact and obstruction of justice -- for allegedly abusing a second court employee and lying about it to a panel of judges investigating a misconduct complaint against him. Kent was arraigned on the new charges this morning.
The superseding indictment, updated with the new charges, claims that Kent forced the second court employee, who was not identified in court papers, to repeatedly "engage in a sexual act," including oral sex, and used his hands to "penetrate or attempt to penetrate" her by force.
Kent has repeatedly denied the charges against him, saying at his first arraignment that he was "absolutely and unequivocally not guilty."
His attorney, Dick DeGuerin, declined to comment, citing a gag order. He has said that Kent's relationship with the case manager, Cathy McBroom, was consensual and that the recent charges were also not true and were the product of "untoward pressure" put on the second court employee.
Kent is scheduled to go to trial on the initial charges later this month. It was unclear whether the new charges would delay the trial.
The original charges stem from a complaint by Kent's former case manager, Cathy McBroom. Kent has been accused of lifting McBroom's shirt and touching her breast against her will.
ABC News does not typically identify alleged victims of sexual assault, but McBroom has spoken out about the case through her lawyer, and her family and has agreed to be identified.
McBroom accused Kent of sexual harassment over a four-year period starting in 2003 when he was the only U.S. District Court judge in Galveston.
McBroom's mother, daughter and a friend have told ABC News that McBroom said Kent sexually harassed her repeatedly before March 2007, when he allegedly lifted up her shirt and bra in his chambers and put his mouth on her breast. He then pushed her head toward his crotch, they said.
"She could hardly control herself, she was so upset," Mary Ann Schopp, McBroom's mother, told ABC News in December 2007.
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