Pennsylvania GOP DA Chad Michael Salsman accused of raping clients on office desk, made them clean up after
A Pennsylvania prosecutor has been accused of sexually assaulting several of his clients on his desk back when he was a defense attorney, the state attorney general announced Wednesday. Court documents released shed light on the many allegations of sexual abuse against Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman over several years.
According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a grand jury indicted the 44-year-old of Wyalusing on three separate charges of sexual assault, five counts of indecent assault, twelve counts of intimidation of a witness or victim, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of prostitution.
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There were also “many other women (who) were placed in the same position, (but) those events occurred outside the statute of limitations,” and their cases could not be included for criminal charges, authorities said. During a news conference announcing the charges, Shapiro said, "The details of these assaults are incredibly disturbing, and they are criminal."
"We know that they strike even deeper because Mr. Salsman abused his position of authority as a lawyer, and as a public official here in this county. The victims in this case were relying on him to be their advocate, to represent them at a time when they felt powerless. Instead, they ended up being preyed upon.”
Salsman, a Republican, has served as the Bradford County District Attorney since January 2020. State records show he has been an attorney in Pennsylvania since 2001. His campaign website shows he is married and has three young daughters. “My daughters are the reasons I am seeking this office,” Salsman wrote on the site. “I want both my family and yours to feel safe living in Bradford County.” But it turns out that Salsman caused harm by assaulting at least five of the women he represented as a defense attorney.
According to Shapiro, Salsman used his position and power to coerce the victims into performing sex acts upon him. "He would bring them into his private office, under the guise of discussing their case, and use his knowledge of his clients' vulnerabilities to negate their consent and sexually assault them,” a news release from Shapiro’s office stated. The attorney general said that Salsman chose his victims because of their vulnerability. “(Salsman) picked these victims because they didn’t have another choice, because he thought they would be easy to silence,” Shapiro said Wednesday. “And likely, they would be less believed if they ever came forward."
According to a criminal complaint, Salsman forced some of the women into unwanted sex acts on his office desk, and then directed them into his private bathroom to allegedly "clean up" using paper towels or cleaning wipes. Afterward, he used to threaten them into silence.
Grand jurors also spoke out about the victims’ situations in their report. "Many of Salsman’s clients struggled with addictions, had a history of being sexually abused or suffered from other vulnerabilities, which Salsman exploited,” the grand jurors wrote.
But Salsman refutes all the allegations against him. On Wednesday, as he was let in handcuffs out of the Magisterial District Court in Towanda, he didn't say much except, “I’m innocent,” to a reporter. The Associated Press reported that Salsman’s attorney, Sam Stretton, also denied the allegations against his client. “And my investigation seems to support that proposition,” Stretton said. “So we will vigorously try this case. This will not be a plea. There was never any grabbing, improper touching. There was never anything of that nature. Never any intimidation.”
In a statement emailed Friday from his Bradford County government address, Salsman claimed that the accusations were “vicious lies” and pledged to “vigorously defending myself against these false allegations.” "I will attempt to continue to serve as long as I can as your District Attorney," the statement read. He added, "Anyone who knows me knows that the picture the Attorney General is painting is not Chad Salsman.” He also added that this was a ploy by Democrat Shapiro to turn his case into a media spectacle, adding that Shapiro’s office told him that if he resigned office, “they would treat me less harshly. If I continued to maintain my innocence, they would handle things much differently. Because I committed no crimes, I refused their offer and they kept their word to publicly humiliate me and attempt to destroy my life and career.”
“Mr. Salsman’s allegations trying to politicize his arrest and this investigation are false,” said Shapiro’s spokesperson, Jacklin Rhoads.
Salsman’s private office, which is located next door to the Towanda Police Department, was raided in December by police officers looking for evidence in the grand jury investigation. Since the case has occupied newsprint, there is now a petition doing the rounds to remove Salsman from office. At the time of writing this story, it had been signed by 1,673 people.