A Navy shipmate of Eric Massa talks exclusively to INSIDE EDITION about the disgraced former congressman. He says Massa was a sexual predator and he can't believe he was brazen enough to run for Congress.
"He had a tendency to give special attention to junior officers, that's for sure," says Peter Clarke.
Clarke, a Navy shipmate of Eric Massa, claims the disgraced former congressman repeatedly tried to force himself on other sailors.
"Do you believe Eric Massa was a sexual predator?" asks INSIDE EDITION's Diane McInerney.
"Absolutely," says Clarke.
Peter Clarke served with Massa in the early 1990s when Massa was a lieutenant commander on the U.S.S. Jouett. Clarke, a graduate of the Naval Academy, says Massa's roommate woke up one night to find Massa undoing his pants.
"Eric Massa jumped on the top bunk of his roommate and tried to pull his pants down," says Clarke.
"How did that shipmate react when he saw Eric Massa allegedly on his bunk?"
"He exploded. Eric begged him not to report him," Clarke says.
Another Massa shipmate claims in an e-mail to the Atlantic Magazine that he was also groped: "In 1990, aboard the U.S.S. Jouett, I was awakened when a senior officer, Lieutenant Commander Massa, seemed to be groping me...I believe he may have been drinking. I shouted at him and he left."
Clarke says Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates, who didn't turn him in because Massa was their superior officer. He says Massa frequently tried to give fellow shipmates what he called "Massa Massages."
"Where did the term 'Massa Massage' come from?" asks McInerney.
"He would say, 'I'm going to have to give you one of my Massa Massages later.' We started calling him Lieutenant Commander Massage."
Massa denies sexually assaulting anyone, as a naval officer or as a congressman. He says that he picked up inappropriate rough-house behavior during his time in the Navy.
Clarke, now a Maryland businessman, says he was amazed that Massa even considered getting into politics.
"I couldn’t believe that he was brazen enough to do the things that he's done and then try to run for Congress," he says.
"What would you say to him if he was in front of you right now?" McInerney asks.
"Eric, for longest time you've been victimizing people and your brazen activities have cost you, and I feel sorry for you, you're a pathetic person," says Clarke.
