A 38-year-old aide to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has been charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old male at a steam room at the Gasparilla Inn on the island of Boca Grande on Florida in December.

According to police reports, Carl Stanley McGee, assistant secretary for policy and planning, and a well-known gay rights activist, was arrested on December 28 and accused of performing oral sex on the 15-year-old, who was a guest at a hotel in Boca Grande, Florida.

Boston Globe writes:
"According to a probable cause statement filed by the Lee County sheriff's office, an "unknown white male" approached the alleged victim the day before the alleged assault, striking up a conversation with him in a bathroom.

"The next day, the alleged victim was in a steam room when the same man, later identified as McGee, entered the room and sat beside the teenager.

"McGee is accused of masturbating and performing oral sex on the teenager.

"An officer from the Lee County sheriff's special victim's unit tried to interview McGee that day, but he refused to answer questions without a lawyer present, according to the probable cause statement.

"Later that day, another officer spotted McGee, who voluntarily went with the officer.

"The alleged victim then "positively identified the individual as the person who sexually battered him, " the probable cause statement said."

McGee was held overnight on a $300,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned next week for sexual battery in Lee County, Fla.

McGee, a former Rhodes scholar and Harvard Law School graduate, was instrumental in the movement seeking to defeat efforts to overturn legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, serving as director of the civic and business outreach efforts of the advocacy group MassEquality.

Friends and supporters were stunned by the news of McGee's arrest and said they do not believe the charges.

"I know it didn't happen," said one official, who asked for anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the matter.

Last update: 02-07-2008 14:33