The former girlfriend of a Republican businessman challenging US Senator Edward M. Kennedy alleged that he forced her to have sex with him and verbally abused her, according to a 1998 civil complaint she agreed to withdraw a month after she filed it.
Beth Ann Mitchell of Mansfield, who was granted a restraining order in Attleboro District Court based on the sworn complaint, said Jack E. Robinson III entered the bed they shared in his Manhattan apartment while she was sleeping and forced her to engage in sex with him, ignoring her protests.
The alleged incident took place on June 26, 1997, six months before she filed the complaint. Mitchell sought no criminal charges in the case, and a judge vacated the order in February 1998 after the two signed an agreement not to contact each other. They had been dating for four years.
Mitchell could not be reached yesterday. Robinson denied the allegation.
The Globe also learned yesterday that Robinson was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon in 1985, after police found a martial arts weapon called a Shuriken star inside his jacket pocket. The charge came Nov. 9, 1985, the same evening Robinson was stopped on Lan sdowne Street on suspicion of drunken driving. The drunken driving charge was dropped after Robinson passed a breath analysis test, and the dangerous weapon charge was continued without a finding.
Governor Paul Cellucci, who had greeted Robinson's candidacy enthusiastically earlier in the week, was not available for comment yesterday on the new disclosures.
Robinson, 39, who lives in Greenwich, Conn., said he is not deterred by the controversies that have emerged over his personal life.
In the 48-hour period since Robinson made public his intention to run against Kennedy, a flood of embarrassing information about his personal life has surfaced. In addition to the allegations of drunken driving, weapon posession, and the restraining order, a Business Week magazine article said Robinson was fired from his post as head of a commuter airline because he was planning to join a group of bidders at an auction he had arranged for sale of the money-losing company. Robinson said he quit in order to bid on the airline.
But Robinson said he feels strongly that the allegations should not block him or anyone from entering public life.
''I don't believe people of good will should be imprisoned for the rest of their lives from doing things they want to do just because they were falsely accused of doing things and those things are out in the public domain,'' he said.
Regarding the restraining order, Robinson strongly denied Mitchell's allegations, saying they were false and that he was ''sickened'' when he was presented with them two years ago. He and his attorney, John C. O'Neil, Jr., said Mitchell agreed to withdraw the complaint when confronted with phone records that they say proved she was harassing Robinson because he wanted to end the relationship.
But Robinson, a 39-year-old millionaire and Harvard Business School graduate, said he accepted the fact the charges had to be aired.
''This is the game of politics and I am learning that quickly,'' Robinson said.
''I made no effort to seal the court file,'' Robinson said. ''I chose not to because I did nothing wrong.''
Mitchell alleged in the complaint that shortly after midnight on June 26, 1997, Robinson came to the bedroom after watching television. She did not say where the incident took place, but Robinson indicated she would stay at his apartment in New York City.
Mitchell said Robinson then had sexual intercourse with her despite her protests.
She also alleged that the night before she filed the complaint in January, Robinson verbally insulted and cursed at her during an angry telephone conversation. She said in the complaint that after they hung up, he called her back but she warned him not call her again, saying she would seek a restraining order. She hung up but she said he called back twice that night, the complaint said.
Robinson released a statement he intended to enter into the court proceedings but said it was not made part of the record because an agreement had been reached between the two to vacate the order.
In it, he painted a picture of a woman who he said harangued him with numerous phone calls. He said he had tried to break up with her, but she would not accept his rejection.
Referring to the dangerous weapon charge, Robinson, who was 25 at the time and attending Harvard, said someone had placed the star - a metal object shaped like a sheriff's badge that is hurled through the air - in his pocket without his knowledge. He pleaded not guilty to the charge, which was continued without a finding, a resolution that does not determine the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
''Somehow it got in there,'' Robinson said. ''I had never seen it before and I have never seen it since. I don't even know what it is.''
Despite his denials, the allegations are threatening to derail the Senate candidacy that Robinson had just begun to launch several days earlier. The state Republican Party this week touted Robinson, who says he is willing to put $1 million of his own money into the race, as a serious GOP challenger to Kennedy, who is seeking his seventh six-year term.
