The high-ranking Brooklyn prosecutor who resigned suddenly this week was forced out amid a sexual harassment accusation, sources said Friday.

Abe George, 36, a former Manhattan prosecutor who ran against longtime Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes last year before bowing out and endorsing eventual winner Kenneth Thompson, announced this week he was leaving his position as deputy bureau chief of narcotics to work for an organization that helps wrongly incarcerated inmates prove their innocence.

But his departure was much more complicated than that, according to multiple sources.

A 28-year-old female prosecutor claimed George tried to kiss her several weeks ago when they grabbed a bite together one evening, a source said. She turned him down, the source said. Initially, she only told a friend, but the matter soon reached supervisors in the DA’s office, the source said.

George at first denied he had made a sexual advance, but was confronted with inappropriate text messages he had sent that forced him to concede his conduct, sources said.

The female prosecutor, who had worked in the DA’s office for about three years, had previously asked to be transferred from the narcotics bureau, source said. Thompson authorized her transfer a few weeks ago.

She did not file a complaint with police nor did she do so in the office.

A few weeks ago, she told higher-ups that she still works on the same floor in the office as George, making her uncomfortable, sources said. District Attorney Thompson then asked him to move, sources said. He refused — a response that essentially sealed his fate, one source said, adding that George was later told to resign or face a pink slip.

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson gave George a job in the office owing to George’s decision to bow out of the race.
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Lupe Todd, a spokeswoman for the office, declined comment, citing a policy of not discussing personnel matters publicly.

The alleged harassment episode was first reported by DNAinfo.com.

George announced Wednesday morning that he had taken a job as general counsel at the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, which fights wrongful convictions and provides legal assistance to former convicts who have been exonerated.

“I look forward to helping Jeff and his foundation ensure innocent men aren’t trapped in our state prison system,” he said at the time, insisting he was only motivated by the new opportunity.

George declined to comment on the newly revealed accusations on Friday and maintained that he resigned his post to take the post with the foundation.

George, who formerly worked as a narcotics prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, challenged Hynes but dropped out of the race before Thompson defeated the 24-year incumbent last fall. Thompson then gave George a job in his office, but it wasn’t an executive position he was angling for, insiders said.

oyaniv@nydailynews.com

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