UPDATE: Fox 5 General Manager Lew Leone said Greg Kelly has requested time off from
work, according to the Daily News. He will be off the air through
Monday, but Leone did not say whether Kelly could be gone longer.
A woman who told police that Fox 5 news anchor Greg Kelly raped her, also told police she was impregnated during the assault and later had an abortion.
The Post reports that sources claim the woman told cops about the pregnancy when she reported the rape to them this week. Kelly, son of NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, is now under investigation for the rape.
The woman told police she met Kelly in October and had drinks with him at the South Street Seaport, as first reported by The New York Times. They later went to her office in a Lower Manhattan law firm, where he raped her, she said.
After exchanging phone calls and text messages with Kelly after the alleged assault, the woman told her boyfriend about the incident. The man angrily confronted Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at a public event. The commissioner told the man to write a letter.
The NYPD handed the case over to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. A spokeswoman for the D.A. declined to comment on the investigation. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne has also stayed mum.
Greg Kelly denied the allegations in a statement released by his attorney, Andrew Lankler.
“Mr. Kelly strenuously denies any wrongdoing of any kind, and is cooperating fully with the district attorney’s investigation,” Lankler said. “We know the district attorney’s investigation will prove Mr. Kelly’s innocence.”
Greg Kelly did not appear at his usual post as co-anchor of “Good Day New York” on Fox 5 this morning. The TV station reported that Kelly is under investigation for rape, but did not comment on his absence or say when he will return to the show.
Why do victims delay in reporting sex crimes?
Kelly’s accuser said she was raped in October, but she didn’t report the incident to police until Tuesday. Sonia Ossorio, director of the National Organization for Women’s New York City chapter, said in cases of date rape, when the victim knows the perpetrator, it is very common for the victim to wait to come forward.
“A victim could go through a guilt process thinking she or he is to blame, or wrestle with the idea that no one will believe her. And these are very justified concerns, because that’s indeed what happens,” Ossorio said.
She also noted that people tend to make quick judgements with a very public case, like that of Kelly’s.
“In talking about this investigation, it’s important that we let trained investigators determine any criminality that may have taken place. It’s easy in high-profile cases to draw conclusions in the court of public opinion and that’s not fair to the accused,” Ossorio said.
