The interview is one of the last pieces of Attorney General Jim Petro's investigation into the sexual harassment complaint lodged by Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Rebecca Collins against Allen and the way the prosecutor's office handled the complaint.

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Before the investigator began asking questions, Collins, 33, read from a written statement, that was also provided to a reporter. In the statement, she said she never sought a relationship with Allen and likened their relationship to that of an abusive husband and battered wife.

"I believe that our relationship between December 1999 and August 2003 was 'consensual' only in the sense that a woman's relationship with an abusive husband can be called 'consensual.'

"I enjoyed some good times with Mike Allen," she added. "However, I now understand that our relationship began and continued because of the power and influence of Mr. Allen and his control over my job and career."

Allen, 48, has admitted to having a 31/2-year extramarital affair with Collins, but has insisted it was consensual. His attorney, Michael Hawkins, has called Collins' complaint "outrageous and false."

Hawkins could not be reached for comment Friday night.

Collins' attorneys sat at her side during the interview Friday.

Petro has said the investigation will focus on sexual-harassment claims that Collins made against Allen in August in an internal complaint and, two weeks later, in Collins' federal lawsuit. The suit also names Hamilton County Commissioners as defendants. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, lost pay and benefits and that she be granted promotions she claims she was denied.

The state investigation came at the request of the prosecutor's office.

Allen has already spoken with investigators.

"We are very concerned about how the investigation was conducted," said one of Collins' three attorneys, Randy Freking. "It was so unusual because they interviewed everyone they think is a witness before Rebecca."

Collins should have been the first witness, Freking said. That way, he said, others interviewed would be able to corroborate or dispute her version of events.

Freking said he is also concerned that the investigator did not ask questions about how Allen handled a letter written to him by one of Collins' lawyers that included a draft of the lawsuit. Nor did the investigator ask questions about the internal sexual-harassment complaint, he said.

Freking expects the results of the investigation to be released in a few weeks.

The investigator who questioned Collins declined to comment on the investigation.

The attorney general's investigation began Sept. 14 and was expected to last four to six weeks. The results of the investigation will be made public, Petro has promised.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com