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Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Asks Boston DA To Investigate Sex Assault Allegations

RICHMOND, Va. (CBS/AP) — Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said Wednesday he's asked prosecutors in Boston and North Carolina to investigate sexual assault allegations two women have made against him.

Speaking at a news conference, Fairfax again said the allegations are untrue and the sexual encounters he had with the women were consensual.

His lawyer has contacted prosecutors in Boston and Durham, North Carolina, where the women say the assaults took place, and have asked them to investigate the allegations, Fairfax said. He said he would cooperate fully with the investigations.

"I knew that the allegations against me were false from the moment I first heard them," he said.

Fairfax said he is confident the investigations will reach the same conclusions as a polygraph test he said he's releasing Wednesday that showed he is innocent.

Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson leveled their accusations against Fairfax in February. Tyson accused Fairfax of forcing her to perform oral sex in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Watson says Fairfax raped her in 2000 when both were students at Duke University.

Tyson's attorney said in February that she would be meeting with Suffolk County prosecutors to detail her case against Fairfax. That came days after District Attorney Rachael Rollins sent a letter to Tyson's legal team to inform them that her office is prepared to investigate should Tyson file a criminal complaint.

"Usually in sexual assault cases we are not public in any way, but this individual chose to self-report and issued a statement and has a law firm and I felt compelled quite frankly to make sure that her firm knew that we stand ready, willing and able to assist in any way possible," Rollins said.

The Associated Press typically does not identify people who say they were sexually assaulted, but Tyson and Watson stepped forward voluntarily and have expressed a desire to testify in public.

The women leveled their allegations against Fairfax at a moment when he seemed poised to ascend to the governor's post. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was facing numerous calls to resign after a racist photo showing a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan costume was found on his medical school yearbook page.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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