HARRISBURG — A woman who alleges that a Western Pennsylvania lawmaker sexually assaulted her while she was incapacitated believes she was drugged on the night the incident occurred, according to Pennsylvania’s top advocate for crime victims.

Jennifer Storm, head of the state’s Office of the Victim Advocate, said the woman believes she was drugged while she was out at a Harrisburg restaurant with a friend because she has no memory of what happened to her after she consumed fewer than two alcoholic drinks.

“She had one-and-a-half drinks, and then lost 12 hours of her life,” said Storm, who is working with the woman. “She was not voluntarily intoxicated in any shape or form.”

Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and House Republican leaders called on state Rep. Brian Ellis, a Republican from Butler County, to resign following a report this week by The Inquirer and Daily News and The Caucus that the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office has opened a criminal investigation into the matter. The woman alleges he took her to his Harrisburg residence, where the alleged assault occurred in late October 2015.

The woman, a state employee who does not work for Ellis, has alleged that the lawmaker told her the next morning that the two had had sex. Prior to that evening, she has said, Ellis had pursued her and she had made it clear she did not want to be involved with him.

Ellis, 49, of Lyndora , has not responded to repeated requests for comment, including calls made to his district and Harrisburg office Friday. It is not clear whether he is represented by an attorney.

“House Republican leaders are recommending Rep. Brian Ellis resign from office to take care of his family and address the allegations raised against him that are currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the Dauphin County District Attorney,” House Republicans said in a statement, adding that they are suspending his ability to chair House committees.

The leaders said they also have directed Capitol Police and House Security to add unspecified safety and security measures.

Ellis was recently named chairman of the House Consumer Affairs Committee. House Republican leaders said he will not be assigned to any other committees, pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

Said Wolf spokesman J.J. Abbott: “The allegations against Rep. Ellis are outrageous and unacceptable. We stand with the survivor whose decision to come forward and seek justice is courageous. Governor Wolf believes Rep. Ellis should resign.”

The woman’s name is being withheld to not identify victims of alleged sexual assault unless they agree to be named.

Storm said the woman was not out with Ellis early in evening at the Harrisburg restaurant where she ordered a drink, after which she blacked out. But later in the evening, she ended up at a different bar, where Ellis was also present.

Storm said that the day after the alleged assault, the woman went to the hospital, where she reported to staff that she had no memory of the previous evening that that she believed she had been sexually assaulted.

At the hospital, she was examined and treated for a concussion and pain all over her body, said Storm.

The alleged assault occurred in late October 2015, according to multiple interviews with people familiar with the allegations. The woman could not consent because she was severely impaired, they said.

In an interview, the woman has said she has struggled emotionally with coming forward.

Ellis, an advocate for business and gun owner rights first elected to the House in 2004, is the second Republican House member in less than a year to be investigated by Chardo’s office on assault allegations.

Last year, two women filed a complaint with House Republicans, alleging they were physically or sexually abused by former state Rep. Nick Miccarelli, R-Delaware.

House Republican lawyers investigated the claims and found the women credible. They called on Miccarelli to resign, but he denied the claims and served out the remainder of his term, which ended last year.

Last month, Chardo ended his investigation into those claims and announced that no charges would be filed against Miccarelli, in part because one of the accusers chose not to go forward. She said her decision was based on the emotional trauma of the process and “the prospect of a long and drawn out criminal proceeding.”

The House also paid out $250,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against Democratic Rep. Tom Caltagirone in 2015.

And on Friday, Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa said his caucus had hired a law firm to look into a woman’s claim that she was the victim of sexual misconduct by Sen. Daylin Leach in 1991, when he was a lawyer representing her mother in a criminal matter.

Costa acted about a week after a document making allegations against Leach was distributed among the Capitol’s Senate offices. Leach, a Democrat, did not return messages but said Thursday on Facebook that he was the victim of injustice and plans a lawsuit.

The Tribune News Service and Associated Press contributed to this report.

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