WASHINGTON -- State Rep. Monte Hodges said Wednesday that he was falsely accused of child molestation about two decades ago and that he is staying in the race for Arkansas' 1st Congressional District.
The head of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, however, urged the Blytheville lawmaker to take himself out of the race.
Hodges, in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, said he was never charged and never arrested over the allegations.
His comments come weeks after Hodges announced he was running for the congressional district, setting up a Democratic bid for a seat the party has not won in more than a decade. The incumbent is U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican from Jonesboro.
The alleged victim was a boy, and Hodges was a friend of his family, according to an investigative file obtained by the Democrat-Gazette.
The report shows that Hodges was the subject of a Blytheville Police Department investigation in 2003. Hodges had been accused of molesting the boy, who was 4 years old during the investigation, according to the documents.
A prosecutor declined to charge Hodges, citing the child's age and saying the boy was the only witness.
Hodges said his opponents have threatened him with the allegations for years as he ran for public office. The state in 2008 investigated the allegations when they allowed Hodges and his wife to adopt their son, according to the lawmaker.
Hodges said he has nothing to be ashamed of.
"Over the last month, people I know and have worked with in politics and business have come to me trying to push me out of this race because of baseless allegations made against me nearly two decades ago," he said in a statement sent to the Democrat-Gazette.
Grant Tennille, chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, issued a statement Wednesday saying Hodges informed him of the allegations a few weeks ago.
"I urged him to take time to discuss his political future with his family. These allegations, although decades old, are extremely serious," Tennille said in the statement. "And I explained to Rep. Hodges that I believed he should exit the race before the filing period begins. He has chosen a different path."
On Wednesday, Hodges said he believes in the district's voters and remained adamant about staying in the race despite Tennille's comments.
Hodges argued that the allegations have not been a secret and that his constituents were aware of them when he ran for City Council many years ago.
But a source close to the congressional campaign said some close supporters were shocked earlier this year by the police report.
Hodges, who works as senior vice president of commercial lending at Southern Bancorp, represents state House District 55, which covers part of Blytheville.
In January 2003, days after the boy's mother spoke with police, the boy went to a sexual assault resource center for an evaluation, according to the investigative file. The findings were inconclusive, the file shows.
An attorney for Hodges had written a letter demanding that the woman stop making the allegations. The letter was included in the investigative file.
"You have probably told other people who we are not aware of yet, but the purpose of this letter is to demand that you stop making these false accusations immediately," the letter read.
The attorney implied that the woman could be at risk of a defamation lawsuit. The letter was dated after the Blytheville police investigation got underway.
"Monte has authorized me to take whatever action I deem necessary to clear his name," the letter read.