The home of Tina Johnson, who accused former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of groping her, was destroyed Wednesday in a fire that is being investigated as an arson, though officials say they do not believe it is related to the Moore allegations.
Johnson’s house on Lake Mary Louise Road in Gadsden, Ala., caught fire Wednesday morning while she and her husband were at work and her grandson was at school.
“I am devastated, just devastated,” Johnson told AL.com on Friday morning. “We have just the clothes on our backs.”
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Johnson is among several women who came forward in November with stories of questionable behavior or alleged sexual misconduct by Moore, the failed Republican candidate in the December special Senate election. Johnson told AL.com in November that during a visit to Moore’s office in 1991, when she was 28, he made several inappropriate comments and then groped her as she was leaving. Moore was 44 and married at the time. Moore has denied the allegations, but he lost the Dec. 12 race to Democrat Doug Jones.
Natalie Barton, public information officer with the Etowah County Sheriff’s Department, said that officials are speaking with a person of interest and that the ongoing investigation “does not lead us to believe that the fire is in any way related to Roy Moore or allegations made against him.”
Neighbors and some utility workers called 911 about 8 a.m. But by the time the fire was extinguished, all of Johnson’s and her family’s belongings were destroyed, according to AL.com.
No one appeared to be injured in the fire.
Johnson and her family are living in a motel, according to AL.com.
She told the website that law enforcement officials have not disclosed how the fire started, only that it began at the back of the house.
Johnson could not be immediately reached for comment.
A GoFundMe set up to help Johnson rebuild her home had nearly met its $40,000 goal by Friday evening.
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