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During an Anchorage press conference Tuesday afternoon, former Kenai Police Chief Chuck Kopp again denied allegations that he sexually harassed a female subordinate in 2005.

The allegations were made anonymously by the complainant to Anchorage media after Kopp was selected by Gov. Sarah Palin to be the new commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.

The woman claimed Kopp hugged her several times and once kissed her on the cheek while she worked at the Kenai Police Department.

On Tuesday, Kopp said the woman has been an acquaintance of his since high school, he knew her personally for many years and a normal greeting for the two was to give each other a hug.

He said she worked for the city as a public safety dispatcher for a few years in the 1990s, left the department and returned in 2005, applying for an administrative position that came open. She was hired for that job.

Socially Kopp said the woman invited him and his wife to attend a music recital of the woman's daughter, and once, following the trial of David Forster, who was convicted in June 2005 of murdering Kenai Police Officer John Watson, the woman attended a reception Kopp hosted for the police department.

In December 2005, Kopp said the woman accused him of sexual harassment.

"I was completely surprised," he said.

Kopp said he told the city's investigating attorney and the city council of all physical contacts he had with the woman, including one incident when he arrived at work and found her bent over her desk saying her neck was locked up and she could not move.

He said he asked if she wanted him to apply direct pressure to her neck and she said she did. He then advised her to go home until she was feeling better.

Trying to keep the woman's identity confidential because it involved a personnel matter, Kopp inadvertently said, "I admitted I hugged Miss ---- three times.

"I did not kiss her," he said.

Following the press conference, Kenai Mayor Pat Porter, who was in attendance, asked that the woman's name be kept confidential. An information officer for the Department of Public Safety, Beth Ipsen, also sent a request to the media saying Kopp "regretfully, inadvertently and unintentionally mentioned the last name of the woman," and asked that the media adhere with her wishes and not publish the name.

Kopp said, following the complaint, he was given a letter of reprimand by the city, but appealed the action to the city council. The council approved his appeal on the condition that no further complaints were received in the following two years.

The letter was removed from his personnel file, which he said he has disclosed to the Anchorage Daily News.

Kopp said that although the complainant was reassigned by Human Resources to work for another supervisor, she remained employed by the city for one full year following the complaint.

"I do not know her motive for bringing it up now," he said.

Responding to reporters' questions following his remarks, Kopp said, "I have never sought a romantic relationship with this complainant -- or anyone else.

"I am not a sex harasser," Kopp said. "I am honored to guide this department."

Porter said she has known Kopp "for a long time."

"I've always known him to be a gentleman," she said, adding the Kenai City Council "was excited Gov. Palin offered Chuck this position."

Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.