Portland massage therapist who accused Al Gore of groping confided in a friend shortly after the 2006 incident | OregonLive.com

Within a few days of the Oct. 24, 2006 encounter at the Hotel Lucia in downtown Portland, Burleigh said she spoke by phone with her friend.

"She told me 'Donna, I was assaulted by someone in the higher ups.' It broke my heart, and I said, 'God, I'm sorry.' "

Her friend didn't go into details, Burleigh said, but said it was during the course of her work. She kept saying "things are going to come to a head" and worried that there'd be "all kinds of media coverage," Burleigh said.

"She said she was meeting with a rape crisis unit, stuff like that," Burleigh said. "She said it was a high authority person who has a lot of power. She was scared of him."

Burleigh said her friend was insulted by what occurred, stressing that she takes her licensed massage therapist job seriously. The therapist also has health problems and the incident made them worse, Burleigh said.
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The veracity of the complaint could be compromised, said Broward County Sheriff's Sgt. Adam Hofstein, supervisor of the special victims unit that handles sex crimes in Fort Lauderdale. "Your forensic evidence is waning, the time weighs on people's recollections and their credibility."

Yet, Hofstein said, in a case like this, "We are still going to take all the steps. You are still within the statute of limitations, you still have a felony."