Conn. lawmaker quits over old abuse claims

HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A Connecticut state legislator has resigned following revelations he paid $100,000 to a woman who claims he molested her 30 years ago when she was a teenager.

State Rep. George Wilber, a Democrat, has never faced criminal charges, The Hartford Courant reports. The woman accusing him never filed a civil suit against him.

But she reportedly told Democratic leaders about the alleged abuse when Wilber ran for the Legislature in 2002, three years before he agreed to the secret settlement. Republicans are now suggesting there was a cover up.

"I do not know if there has ever been a criminal investigation or even if one is warranted, but I can tell you that the allegations are absolutely shameful," Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican, said.

Lynn Blackwell, who investigated the woman's claims for then-Speaker Moira Lyons, said she could find nothing to back up the story. Wilber admitted he had known the woman's family but denied any wrongdoing, and there were no known witnesses.

Wilber, a retired dairy farmer from Colebrook, represented a district in rural northwestern Connecticut near the Massachusetts state line.