(April 21, 2018) – “The range of threats faced by campaigns in 2018 is on a different scale than the campaign industry has seen before,” reported Campaigns & Elections Magazine on Friday. “From candidate identity theft, to cyber attack and disinformation campaigns, new threats have emerged.”
Boy, don’t I know it!
My opponent, James “The Big Sellouski” Oscarson, and the entire political establishment here in Nevada are absolutely PETRIFIED that you and I might win the Assembly District 36 seat in the Legislature.
As such, they’re coming at us with multiple, full-blown, scorched earth, disinformation attacks – including ballot initiatives to shut my businesses down and dredging up absolutely phony allegations of “sexual assault” against me.
Let me be absolutely clear here: Jennifer O’Kane’s outrageous, trash-talking allegations are absurd and, as you’ll see below, absolutely politically motivated.
O’Kane is a disgruntled former sex worker who was also a competitor of mine before she lost her own brothel. Her accusation of sexual assault has been thoroughly investigated by law enforcement authorities and determined to be without merit.
In fact, Ms. O’Kane’s allegations regarding incidents she claims occurred in 2011 weren’t reported until October 18, 2016 – FIVE YEARS after the fact and just three weeks before Election Day in my race against Oscarson.
The investigating officer, Detective James Brainard, interviewed Ms. O’Kane on the day she filed her charges. His written “Finding” (public record) after the interview and subsequent investigation includes the following:
“There were no witnesses and no physical evidence in this allegation, except for Jennifer’s statement. Jennifer refused to offer any names of potential witnesses. Jennifer stated she’s coming forward now, because people were begging her to come forward.”
As to who those unidentified “people” were, Detective Brainard’s conclusion tells us what we already know…
“There could be some political motivation. Hof was running for Nevada assembly and the election was being held on November 8th. Until further evidence becomes available, case will be closed.”
Indeed, on March 15, 2018, Deputy District Attorney Katrina Samuels issued an official determination letter related to O’Kane’s allegations, advising the Nye County Sheriff’s Office that “Prosecution of the above referenced case has been denied.”
Having been rebuffed by law enforcement authorities, Ms. O’Kane and others are now attempting to try me in the media with their unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo – just two months before the scheduled Republican primary election in my current race against Oscarson.
Since the media has given Jennifer O’Kane’s outrageous allegations a lot of coverage, I thought I’d share with you the full and true story that has not been covered in the newspaper reports….
As part of the investigation into O’Kane’s allegation, a “cease and desist” letter was written on November 6, 2017 – SIX YEARS after the alleged incident – to Ms. O’Kane by Jody Williams of Sex Workers Anonymous – the oldest and largest volunteer support group for former sex workers – which was provided to the Pahrump Police Department.
In the letter, Ms. Williams – who has spent 32 years “working with women who have been horrifically abused, attacked, trafficked, raped, exploited, etc.” – notes that she first heard about O’Kane’s allegations of having been “raped by Dennis Hof” through the “social media announcements you (O’Kane) were blasting all over day and night.”
When Ms. Williams asked O’Kane if she filed a police report, O’Kane “went around and around without giving me an answer really.” Later, after “finally” giving Ms. Williams a “police report number,” O’Kane was unable to actually furnish a copy of the report.
Ms. Williams also asked for information on a lawsuit O’Kane told her had been filed. She then tried to verify the case number with the court only to discover “They had no such case number.”
“I then spoke to the Clerk and the prosecutor’s office,” Ms. Williams wrote, “who told me ‘there is no case of any kind pending against Dennis Hof.’”
“I then asked you who was the rape counselor or therapist that Awaken Reno had also referred you to for aftercare after such a horrific incident as you described to me,” she continued. “You didn’t answer me on that either.”
Nevertheless, Ms. Williams recorded an interview in which O’Kane told her story, which “focused entirely on what happened between you and Dennis supposedly,” and posted it on social media.
“Only after I recorded this interview with you,” Ms. Williams wrote, “your story started changing. In fact, it changed three times into entirely different stories. This is when I realized maybe I’d made a mistake in posting the tape of your interview. In all the years I’ve done this work, the ONLY time I’ve ever seen anyone ‘change their story’ has been when their story ‘wasn’t true.’”
So she “took down the tape, and sent my apologies to Dennis Hof for having had it online for those few days.”
At that point, O’Kane angrily broke off communications with Ms. Williams – only to re-engage some time later “with seeming no recollection of the horribly nasty things you said to me during out last communications.”
O’Kane said she wanted Ms. Williams to speak with an attorney she’d retained “who was suing Dennis” and told the attorney that Ms. Williams was a “friend” who could “provide him with other names of other victims to support your case.”
“I was speechless when I was told this,” Ms. Williams wrote, “because I in no way had any idea about any of this.”
Later, Ms. Williams wrote…
“I received a call from a Pahrump police officer. He tells me that you did NOT file a police report when this rape supposedly happened, meaning you lied to me when you gave me a police report number from supposedly years ago. He said you were ‘just in there now trying to file a report with no evidence and no witnesses.’”
“You of course denied this when I confronted you about it,” Ms. Williams continued. “But honestly…he wouldn’t be contacting me unless you’ve been shooting your mouth off with my name on your lips about ‘rape’ and ‘sex trafficking’ accusations against Dennis Hof.”
In concluding, Ms. Williams wrote…
“(W)hy you think I’m going to run off at the mouth about who and what I know to you, or someone you’re asking me to talk to in order to support your agenda – I have no idea where you get the idea I’d do this for you. You are not a member of any of our programs. You have never called us for help. You have not supported our work in any way. You have not expressed any personal friendship to me as a person. I have absolutely NO REASON TO HELP YOU JENNIFER. In light of the way you’ve attacked and insulted me on top of everything – I personally think you have a hell of a lot of nerve involving me in your agendas and throwing my name around to support your agenda.
“So I’m going to send you now this formal ‘cease and desist’ letter from using my name. From what I can tell you are burning up the phone lines using my name and I’m not having it.”
This is what happens all too often when you enter the political arena today. The unfortunate reality is you have to deal with crazy accusations made by unscrupulous individuals who are driven by a personal grudge or political agenda.
It’s this sort of muck-raking in the political cesspool that keeps so many good people from running for office. But it won’t deter me.
I hope this helps better establish the lack of credibility and reliability of O’Kane’s allegations.
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