Arizona congressional candidate says she was raped while repairing campaign sign

By Sarah Moon, CNN

(CNN) — A US congressional candidate in Arizona, Bernadette Greene-Placentia, says she was raped by two men while she was repairing one of her campaign signs.

Greene-Placentia said it happened August 14 around 2 or 3 a.m. in the Phoenix suburb of Sun City, according to an incident report from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office shared by her campaign.

Greene-Placentia reported the incident to the sheriff’s office more than two weeks later on August 31, according to the report.

A former truck driver for 27 years, Greene-Placentia told CNN’s Erin Burnett she “crossed four million miles and I’d managed to take care of myself, and now all of a sudden, I’m in this situation where I couldn’t defend myself and I was very angry.”

“I was embarrassed, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk about it… I just kind of wanted to bury it,” she continued.

The sheriff’s office is investigating the case, it said Wednesday.

The Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 8th congressional district, which includes parts of Phoenix and nearby areas including Sun City, was out putting up and fixing political signage and was hit in the back of her head by two unknown men while walking back to her vehicle, the incident report says. Greene-Placentia lost consciousness and does not recall how she was hit in the head or how many times, according to the report, which says she and investigators have not been able to determine the exact location of the attack.

She woke up to the pain of one of the men concluding intercourse while holding her down, according to the report. She “described having bruises on her arms from being held down.”

The other man then raped her, the report says. She said she also recalls seeing her feet as she fought back by kicking.

Greene-Placentia does not remember what the men looked like or what they were wearing, according to the report.

“She only recalled one of them wearing black boots and having small feet,” the incident report reads.

She recalled to investigators that one of the men said “democratic b*tch” at some point during the incident, the report states.

On Thursday, she told CNN she could not be certain of what she had heard then. “However, I was repairing signs,” she added. “My picture is on my signs all over the district.”

Greene-Placentia said she “did get the gut feeling that I was recognized.”

She was repairing campaign signs, which she would do anytime between midnight and 2 a.m. due to the Arizona summer heat, and was typically accompanied by at least one other person, the congressional candidate told CNN.

“I have a tendency to think it was more a crime of opportunity, but yeah, I can’t discount that. Maybe I was targeted, or maybe it was a crime of opportunity. But they recognized me, so they wanted to teach me a lesson or something,” she continued.

The incident report says that she did not take any pictures of the bruises on her body or the bump of her head following the incident.

She told deputies that “immediately after the sexual assault, she went home and took three showers and a bath.” Greene-Placentia did not go to a hospital or get a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exam.

“I asked Bernadette if there was any DNA left on her clothing, which she stated she has washed the clothes since then,” an investigator wrote in the incident report.

Both men remain “truly unknown,” the report adds.

Greene-Placentia said she didn’t tell her husband or staff about the incident until a couple of days later. “In hindsight, it’s like, ‘why didn’t I get to the car and call the police or go to the hospital?’”

“I had an obvious big bump on the back of my head, bruises all over… It’s hard, and I understand why women want to just bury it and don’t want to talk about it,” she said.

For two weeks, she was “angry that this had happened” and wasn’t able to defend herself. “I have a 21-year-old daughter that knew mom drove across the country and was able to take care of herself and now she’s worried that mom can’t take care of herself,” she continued.

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office followed up with Greene-Placentia on September 1, and she provided more details of her injuries.

She explained she was struck on the left side on the back of her head, which had a significant bump on it. She also had three vertical bruises that appeared to be in the shape of a hand on her left arm, according to the report.

Greene-Placentia also stated she experienced vaginal bleeding for two to three days following the assault. She also told the sheriff’s office her assailants may have been White males.

“She did not recall if the male subjects left by foot or got into a vehicle,” the incident report says.

According to the report, she did not tell anyone of the incident until two to three days later, when she talked to her husband, Alexander Placentia, and two campaign staff members.

After the initial reluctance to speak out, Greene-Placentia felt she needed to fight for “everybody,” saying she felt a need to speak out about what happened and send a message to other women that it’s “OK to come forward and that it’s not their fault.”

“Speaking publicly about what happened has been incredibly difficult for Bernadette,” campaign spokesperson Craig Beckman said in a statement to CNN on Wednesday. “She chose to share her story 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 political opponent, incumbent US Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, said in a statement to the Times that law enforcement should “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.”

Greene-Placencia told CNN she recognizes how hard it is for women to come forward, saying: “When I decided to speak out, I recognize that maybe if they see somebody in the public light saying it is OK to come forward, it is OK, you will be believed.”

“There’s somebody that’s going to fight for you,” she added. “I keep telling folks the reason I ran is to give a voice to everyday Americans, the working class, and that means now I have an opportunity, as horrible as the situation is, to also be a voice for women that have been victims of sexual assault.”

Help is available: For help in the US, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or chat 24/7 on online.rainn.org.

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CNN’s Michael Williams, Emma Tucker and Andy Rose contributed to this report.