A Louisiana pediatrician on Monday backed up his former girlfriend’s claims that Republican presidential contender Herman Cain touched her inappropriately when she sought his help finding employment more than a decade ago.

“She said that something had happened and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner,” Victor Jay Zuckerman recalled his former girlfriend, Sharon Bialek, telling him in 1997 after the alleged encounter. “She said she had handled it and didn’t want to talk about it any further. … I respected her request.”