Joseph Wood, a third-party candidate for Town of North Hempstead clerk, was arrested Saturday on sexual molestation charges after allegedly groping residents of a Uniondale sober house where he works as a counselor.
Wood, who is running for clerk on the Conservative line, allegedly admitted to police that he sexually touched residents of the home, following his arrest on two counts of forcible touching for incidents taking place Sept. 27 and Oct. 6.
“I touched one guy… maybe two,” Wood allegedly said, according to charging documents provided by the Nassau County District Attorney’s office. “I grabbed every guy’s ass in that house!”
“I’m in counseling… I’m trying to figure out what I do what I do,” Wood allegedly continued.
Wood, a 73-year-old Mineola resident, allegedly groped two victims, a 21-year-old and a 31-year-old, while alone with them in the sober house, according to a police report.
Nassau County Detective Timothy Slevin wrote in the charging document that Wood allegedly hugged the victims before grabbing each man’s genitals.
Wood announced his run for town clerk this summer, challenging Nassau County Legislator Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) and incumbent Clerk Leslie Gross, who switched to the Republican line after the town Democratic party failed to renominate her.
Wood’s campaign was launched without the support of the Nassau County Conservative Party, according to party chair Daniel Donovan, who told Newsday that the party never endorsed Wood and had no contact with him.
Wood is listed as representing himself on the state’s digital court filing system, and a woman who answered the phone at Wood’s Mineola residence declined to comment on the case.
Wood launched his campaign on a platform of fiscal restraint and as a self-described “right-to-lifer.”
There is no record of Wood raising or spending money on the race, with the state Board of Elections listing no campaign filings under his name.
