And yet people who lived in Etowah County during that time have said Moore’s flirting with and dating much younger women and girls was no secret.

“These stories have been going around this town for 30 years,” said Blake Usry, who grew up in the area and lives in Gadsden. “Nobody could believe they hadn’t come out yet.”

Usry, a traveling nurse, said he knew several of the girls that Moore tried to flirt with.

“It’s not a big secret in this town about Roy Moore,” he said. “That’s why it’s sort of frustrating to watch” the public disbelieve the women who have come forward, he said.