Congressman Accused of Sexual Assault on Peace Corps Volunteer

A Peace Corps volunteer has accused a congressman of sexually assaulting her during a dinner outing in Kinshasa, capital of Zaire, according to an account today in the Washington Post.

The newspaper said the congressman, Gus Savage (D-Ill.), declined to comment on the account.

The unidentified volunteer said in an interview that Savage insisted she ride alone with him in a chauffeur-driven car to dinner March 19. Savage was on an official visit and had asked for a briefing on Peace Corps activities, which the volunteer was scheduled to give a few days later. The dinner party also included members of Savage’s staff and the U.S. Embassy staff, including embassy information officer Daniel McGaffie.

As soon as the three cars of the party left the embassy, “he grabbed me,” the volunteer said in her interview. “He tried to force me to have sex with him. . . . He kept touching me, after I told him to stop, many times, loudly.”

After a two-hour outing that included stops at several bars, the volunteer fled a disco with Savage in pursuit, the account continued. McGaffie reportedly interrupted a “tense public encounter” between Savage and the volunteer and took the woman home.

The next morning, Ambassador William Harrop “spoke very strongly” to Savage and “chewed him out as much as an ambassador chews out a congressman,” an unidentified witness was quoted as saying.

An official familiar with the meeting said Savage “did not feel as if it had been as extreme as she suggested.”

The volunteer was sent to Washington for six weeks of treatment of the sort given to victims of sexual offenses and is now awaiting a new assignment by the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps spokesman Lee Raudonis told the Associated Press that the agency had not been able to confirm the volunteer’s account independently, but said: “The fact that she’s being given a new assignment indicates that we think she is capable of the assignment and that we have confidence in her.”

Sherman Funk, inspector general of the State Department, said he has “referred the incident to somebody else for review. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment further.”