Arizona congressional candidate reports rape while repairing campaign signs

Bernadette Greene-Placentia, a Democrat running for Congress in a suburban Phoenix district, said Wednesday that she was raped in August while repairing a campaign sign at night, eventually filing a police report with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

According to CBS affiliate KPHO, Greene-Placentia told police she was walking back to her vehicle after fixing a campaign sign in Sun City, a suburb of Phoenix, when she was hit in the head. Greene-Placentia said when she regained consciousness, she was being held down and sexually assaulted by a man, the report said.

Another man then allegedly sexually assaulted her while she fought back by kicking her feet, the report said. 

She recalled one of the men saying “Democratic b****,”  the police report said. 

The assault was first reported to the Phoenix New Times. Greene-Placentia, who the paper said is a long-haul trucker who moved to Arizona’s 8th District in 2017, told the New Times that she told her husband and the campaign the next day.

She said she reported the assault two weeks later. 

In a statement, Greene-Placentia’s campaign said she came forward “because she knows many survivors struggle in silence, and she hopes that by speaking about her experience, others will know they are not alone.” 

Her opponent, Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh, said he was calling on authorities to “investigate these serious allegations thoroughly, including finding all possible camera footage of the time and place in order to prosecute the crime to the fullest extent of the law.”

The sheriff’s office said in a statement the investigation into the incident is ongoing.