PA-07: GOP Candidate for Dent's Seat Faces Sexual Misconduct Allegation

Congressional candidate Marty Nothstein was placed on unpaid leave from his decade-long post as executive director of the Lehigh Valley velodrome in February after its board was notified he was the subject of a sexual misconduct investigation, The Morning Call has learned.

The unspecified misconduct claim was lodged with a U.S. Olympic-related organization and dates to an alleged incident from about 2000, the year Nothstein won an Olympic gold medal, according to a velodrome board email reviewed by reporters.

In an interview Thursday at his campaign office, Nothstein called the accusations “100 percent false” and a “political hit job” that began less than two weeks after he announced his bid for Congress last fall. He was placed on leave as he was campaigning for the Republican primary.

He insisted law enforcement from the Lehigh Valley found the allegation baseless. “There is no victim here,” said Nothstein, who launched his Olympic and business careers at the velodrome.

“These false accusations hurt me, hurt my family and hurt my livelihood … ,” he said. “It’s coming from an anonymous tipster, someone standing in the shadows.”

The alleged misconduct may have occurred at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Trexlertown, according to a February email to the board from Andy Ralston, then board president, that was recently reviewed by reporters.



http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-pa-congress-marty-nothstein-misconduct-charge-20180816-story.html