Thomas Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was arrested in New York City on Friday on allegations of sexual abuse and harassment of a woman last year, the New York Police Department said.
Frieden, who also once served as New York City’s health commissioner, turned himself in to a Brooklyn police station on Friday morning, police spokesperson Arlene Muniz said.
A 55-year-old woman filed a complaint against Frieden in July, accusing him of grabbing her buttocks against her will last October at his apartment in Brooklyn Heights, Muniz said.
As the city’s health commissioner from 2002 to 2009, Frieden oversaw efforts to ban smoking in public places.
In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him as director of the CDC, the country’s main public health agency. He stepped down in 2017.
Frieden remained in custody on Friday, Muniz said. It was not immediately clear if he was represented by a lawyer or if charged have been formally laid.