Former head of CDC Tom Frieden arrested and charged with forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment
Tom Frieden, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been arrested amid allegations of forcible touching, sex abuse and harassment.
CNBC confirmed that Frieden was arrested on those charges after inappropriately touching a woman in October 2017.
Local media reported that the Frieden groped the woman in his Brooklyn home and that the woman reported the incident in July.
NYPD officers from Brooklyn's special victims division arrested Frieden on Friday morning. He is expected in court later in the day.
Frieden was director of the CDC between 2009 and 2017, leading the agency as it worked to end the Ebola epidemic and an outbreak of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. He was also previously New York City Health Commissioner from 2002 and 2009.
Frieden now serves as president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global health non-profit, which is an initiative of Vital Strategies. Jose Castro, president and CEO of Vital Strategies, said in a statement that in April Frieden mentioned allegations against him of inappropriate behavior.
Castro said Vital Strategies tapped an external expert to conduct an investigation and interview Resolve to Save Live staffers. That probe concluded that there had been no misconduct in the workplace, Castro said.
Here is Castro's full statement:
"In April of this year, Dr. Tom Frieden, who heads our Resolve to Save Lives Initiative, informed me that a non-work-related friend of his and his family of more than 30 years accused him of inappropriate physical contact.
I have known and worked closely with Dr. Frieden for nearly 30 years and have seen first-hand that he has the highest ethical standards both personally and professionally. In all of my experiences with him, there have never been any concerns or reports of inappropriate conduct.
Vital Strategies is committed to a workplace that is free of sexual harassment. As such, even though she is not an employee, earlier this month we conducted a thorough investigation by an external expert, which included an in-depth interview with every staff member on the Resolve to Save Lives team to determine whether there are any concerns about inappropriate behavior. This assessment determined there have been no incidents of workplace harassment.
Vital Strategies greatly values the work Dr. Frieden does to advance public health and he has my full confidence."
— CNBC's Meg Tirrell and Jim Forkin contributed to this report.