CD-2 Candidate Yahya Yuksel On Rape Allegations     Jul. 15, 2018

"Local attorney and Congressional District 2 Democratic candidate Yahya Yuksel has a good idea of how much damage a single police report can have on a campaign.

In March, Yuksel petitioned the Pima County Superior Court in an attempt to hide the coversheet of a sealed report from 2008 that he feels unfairly associated him with a sex offense.

“While the report is sealed from public view, another person may still see the (coversheet),” he wrote to the court. “In today’s news, revelations of countless instances of politicians committing sexual misconduct is unfortunately commonplace, I fear the public can unfairly associate me to those public figures who actually were proven guilty of sexual misconduct.”

Yuksel denies the allegations in the report, and told the Star he was not made aware of it until several years later, when he was applying for law school in California.

“It is very important to note, that at the time of the allegation no investigating officer of the law attempted to make contact with me or pursue criminal charges,” he wrote.

The request included the now-sealed 2008 report that alleges that Yuksel was in high school when he sexually assaulted a teenage girl.

The report indicates that the girl did not want to press charges.

Yuksel was never arrested or charged in relation to the incident. As a result, the judge denied Yuksel’s petition, saying it had no authority to clear the record."