A fourth accuser came forward claiming Seattle Mayor Ed Murray paid him for sex when he was a teenager.
In court documents filed Tuesday, Maurice Jones, 44, claimed he was introduced to Murray by Delvonn Heckard who also claimed he was abused as a teen by Murray. Heckard is the only person suing the mayor at this point. The declaration submitted to the court by Jones is in support of Heckard's lawsuit.
Jones claimed in a written statement that Murray was known for patronizing child prostitutes at the time when Jones was a teen. Jones claimed he had also been in Murray’s Capitol Hill apartment at the same time Heckard has claimed abuse in the 1980s.
Lincoln Beauregard, Heckard's attorney, said Jones recalled two sexual encounters with Murray. One was in his apartment and one was someplace else. Beauregard said Jones participated in the alleged sex acts for money.
Related: Who was Ed Murray in the 1980s?
He also wrote that he is not part of any right-wing conspiracy and that he is gay.
Murray has vehemently denied the accusations many times in public and through his attorney.
Jeff Reading, a spokesperson for Murray, said the allegation was "false" and called the filing a "sensational media stunt."
"Mayor Murray does not know this person," Reading said in a statement. "This is an ambush copycat false accusation that is being made without any details, evidence, timeline or anything at all to substantiate its veracity."
The newly filed declaration was accompanied by a photograph. It shows Heckard’s attorney, Lincoln Beauregard, on the left, grinning and holding the declaration. On the right, Maurice Jones is pictured wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, also smiling from the other side of a Plexiglas partition. Jones is currently being held in the King County Jail. It is unclear why he is there, but Beauregard said it could be on a drug charge.
Reading wrote in the Tuesday statement that the “read-‘em-weep selfie of Beauregard and the beaming accuser is extremely odd and unsettling.”
