Morro Bay connection to Biden sexual assault allegation surfaces

April 29, 2020

With a former staffer for then-Sen. Joe Biden accusing the now-presumptive presidential nominee of sexual assault, a conversation that reportedly occurred in Morro Bay in the mid 1990s has become a focal point of the the campaign controversy. [Business Insider]

Former Senate office staffer Tara Reade alleges, in 1993, Biden attacked her in a corridor, shoved his hand up her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers.

Reade was told to meet Biden in a semiprivate corridor to deliver a duffel bag. There, Biden pushed her up against a wall, reached under her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers, she said.

When Reade resisted his advances, Biden expressed annoyance and said, “Aw man, I heard you liked me.”

Then, Biden pointed a finger at her and said, “You’re nothing to me.”

Afterward, Biden shook her by the shoulders and said, “You’re okay, you’re fine,” prior to walking away, Reade alleges.

Reade also alleges, after the assault, she was abruptly relieved of her duties of managing interns. She then left Washington, D.C. and, within a year or two, moved to Morro Bay.

Currently, some individuals are vouching for Reade, including her former next-door neighbor at a Morro Bay apartment complex.

Lynda LaCasse, 60, formerly worked as a medical staff coordinator and emergency room clerk for the defunct San Luis Obispo General Hospital. In 1995 and 1996, LaCasse lived next door to Reade at a Morro Bay apartment complex.

The two women shared a bond because, at the time, they were both mothers with young daughters who swam together in the apartment complex’s indoor pool. During one evening conversation, they were sharing violent stories, and Reade told her she had worked for Biden and he put his hand up her skirt, LaCasse said.

Despite expressing support for Biden on social media, in March, LaCasse shared on Facebook a story detailing Reade’s allegations. LaCasse added the comment, “This is my good friend Tara Reade, who was assaulted by Joe Biden in 1993.”

Nonetheless, LaCasse said she has no political ax to grind and still intends to vote for Biden.

“I personally am a Democrat, a very strong Democrat,” LaCasse said. “And I’m for Biden, regardless. But still I have to come out and say this.”

LaCasse said she volunteered to vouch for Reade and was not asked to do so.

“If this was me, I would want somebody to stand up for me. It takes a lot of guts to do what she’s doing,” LaCasse said.

Aside from the Morro Bay apartment complex, a phone call presumptively made in San Luis Obispo County is also factoring into the controversy,

Last week, video surfaced of an unnamed woman who Reade says is her mother calling into a 1993 broadcast of CNN’s “Larry King Live.” The show was devoted to the culture in Washington, D.C.

With the words “Call from San Luis Obispo, Ca.” displayed on the broadcast, Larry King fielded a call from a woman who said her daughter just left Washington after working for a prominent senator. The woman said her daughter had “problems” and could not get through with them, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, but she chose not to out of respect for the senator.

Reade previously said her mother, who died in 2016, made the call but could not remember the date. After listening to a recording of the call, Reade said it was indeed her mother who was speaking with King.

Last spring, Biden adamantly denied multiple allegations of inappropriate touching. Thus far, Biden has not personally addressed Reade’s sexual assault allegation. A Biden campaign spokesperson said the allegations are false.