Cop accused of sexually assaulting gas station worker while on duty, Kentucky police say

An on-duty Louisville police officer is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at her place of employment, according to police.

Robert Neff, 25, was placed on administrative leave during the two-month investigation, according to WHAS. He was charged Wednesday with three counts of official misconduct, two counts of third-degree sexual assault and one count of harassment with physical contact.

The incidents occurred in March at a Thornton’s gas station, where Neff allegedly “subjected (the) victim to unwanted touching,” Louisville police say. He is accused of tying her hands behind her back with plastic, then untying them with a knife when she attempted to pull away, a citation states.

That same day, /March 10, he allegedly followed the woman to the back room and hugged and kissed her, “both of which were unwanted by the victim,” Louisville police said. He was on duty when in the store for about an hour and 50 minutes that day, according to police.

He returned an hour later when he was off work, the citation states. The woman told Neff “she was not interested in a relationship” and Neff left again, according to police.

On March 11, Neff came back to Thornton’s on duty and in uniform, expressing “his interest and desire to be in a relationship” with the woman, police said in the citation. The woman told Neff she was not interested, to which the officer allegedly responded by telling her he hoped she would give him a kiss, the citation states.

Neff later followed the victim to the gas station’s back room and “under the guise of performing a search,” he touched her chest with both hands, police said. He followed her again less than an hour later and put his hand up her shirt around her bra area, according to police. He also ran his hand up the inside of both of the woman’s legs, police said.

He then allegedly told the woman to take off her socks and shoes. When she refused to take off her shoes, Neff held her shoe away from her, police wrote in a citation.

Neff exited the store more than two hours after he first entered, police said.

The woman reported the incident to another police officer, the citation states.

A police spokesperson told WDRB the department began an investigation “after concerns were brought to a supervisor from someone inside the department.”

Neff will plead not guilty for his June 16 arraignment, his attorney told WDRB.