LEWISTON – City officials won’t release a report on a general assistance caseworker accused of soliciting sex.

Abdiaziz Ali, 34, will get a hearing with City Administrator Jim Bennett sometime this month, but city officials are not releasing the date or time.

“It would be unfair to have Mr. Ali run the gauntlet of reporters,” Assistant City Administrator Phil Nadeau said. “This is difficult enough for everyone involved, including us, and we do not want to make it more difficult. We want Mr. Ali to be fairly represented and have a fair hearing, and it’s much easier to do that if you don’t have the entire statewide media waiting in the hall.”

Nadeau said he filed his report on Ali’s behavior with Bennett Tuesday. It will not be released until after a decision has been made about Ali’s employment with the city.

“Then we have to wait and see if there is an appeal,” Nadeau said. “Until it’s all completed, it remains confidential.”

Ali was issued a summons in August on charges of engaging a prostitute and official oppression.

Police say Ali, who also served as a liaison for the Somali community, pressured a local woman to have sex with him by promising her reduced rent. Detectives assigned to the case secretly recorded conversations between Ali and the woman before charges were filed, police said.

According to Maine law, the charge of engaging a prostitute alleges that a person offers money or other benefits in exchange for sex. The woman who complained to police about Ali is not a prostitute, investigators said.

Official oppression is a charge that targets public servants accused of committing illegal acts by using the power of their office, according to Maine law.

Bennett has said that if Nadeau’s investigation proved that the allegations were factual, he would terminate the employment of Ali, who has been on paid administrative leave since August.