ALBANY, N.Y. — Albany Police Department officials said on Thursday that they had communicated with the New York State Police and the governor’s office about an alleged incident at the Executive Mansion involving Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and a female aide that may have risen “to the level of a crime.”
Steve Smith, a spokesman for the Albany police, said that the department had not received a formal complaint from the woman, who has not been identified, but that it had reached out to a lawyer for her.
This does not mean, Mr. Smith said, that the department has opened a criminal investigation, but it has offered its services to the alleged victim, “as we would do with any other report or incident.”
Albany police officials said they heard from the state police on Wednesday night after the publication of an article in The Times Union of Albany that detailed accusations leveled by an unidentified aide to the governor who accused Mr. Cuomo of groping her at the governor’s mansion, where he lives.
William Duffy, a spokesman for the State Police, confirmed the contact with the Albany department, saying it was “to facilitate a contact with the executive chamber regarding the alleged incident.”
Mr. Smith said that the deputy chief of police, Edward Donohue, who oversees the department’s criminal investigation unit, then spoke to the governor’s counsel.
The governor’s acting counsel, Beth Garvey, confirmed the conversation, saying that she had initiated the call and reported the allegations, after a lawyer for the female aide told the governor’s office that the aide did not want to file a report.
“As a matter of state policy, when allegations of physical contact are made, the agency informs the complainant that they should contact their local police department,” Ms. Garvey said in a statement. “If they decline, the agency has an obligation to reach out themselves and inform the department of the allegation.”
“In this case, the person is represented by counsel and when counsel confirmed the client did not want to make a report, the state notified the police department and gave them the attorney’s information,” Ms. Garvey added.
While the police department’s actions are part of standard procedure, the situation underscored the potential criminal exposure Mr. Cuomo faces if the aide decided to pursue charges for unwanted touching.
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The aide, who is younger than Mr. Cuomo, was summoned to the governor’s private residence on the second floor to assist him with a technical issue when Mr. Cuomo reached under her blouse and began touching her, The Times Union said.
On Wednesday, the governor denied any wrongdoing.
“I have never done anything like this,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement, adding that the report was “gut-wrenching.”
Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, said that he would not “speak to the specifics of this or any other allegation,” citing an ongoing investigation overseen by the state attorney general, Letitia James.
“I am confident in the result of the attorney general’s report,” Mr. Cuomo said.
A female supervisor in the office became aware of the aide’s allegation on March 3 when Mr. Cuomo, following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior, gave a televised apology in which he denied touching anyone inappropriately. The newspaper reported that the supervisor noticed the aide become emotional during the governor’s address and that the aide subsequently told the supervisor about her encounter with the governor.
The aide had not filed a formal complaint with the governor’s office, the newspaper reported, but the allegation was forwarded this week to the state attorney general.
