SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Embattled Spokane Mayor Jim West told a newspaper editor he expects more allegations of sex abuse to surface, The Spokesman-Review reported.

Spokesman-Review Editor Steven A. Smith told reporters that West called him at home May 8 to deny the paper’s report that day that the mayor had masturbated in his City Hall office during online sex conversations.

Smith said he took notes during the 30-minute conversation with West, who called to dispute the newspaper’s story that West had told City Councilmember Sheri Rodgers that he had masturbated in his office.

Smith said he asked the mayor during the call if other men claiming to be abuse victims are likely to come forward. West said, “Probably so.”

“For some people, they’ll do it for the thrill. Some people are confused. I need time,” Smith said West told him.

West, who has denied he abused boys, did not immediately return a call for comment from The Associated Press.

The Spokesman-Review on May 8 called for West’s resignation, saying in its editorial page that his conduct cost him his ability to govern effectively. The Seattle Times also called for West to resign in an editorial.

City officials are organizing an independent investigation into West’s possible misuse of city computers. City computers used by West were seized and their contents “frozen,” City Attorney Mike Connelly said.

West, meanwhile, continued to deny allegations of child abuse, as well as Rodgers’ contention that he told her he had masturbated in his office.

City spokesperson Marlene Feist issued a news release that West and Rodgers agreed there was a “possible misunderstanding,” but Rodgers stood by her story in an article in The Spokesman-Review.

West told Smith he was at home, not in his office, when the simulated online sex occurred, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper published a series of reports that West had been accused of abusing boys while he was a sheriff’s deputy and Boy Scout leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s. West denied those allegations, but subsequently acknowledged that he had visited a gay chat room and had relations with adult men.

A preliminary FBI probe into the allegations has been launched.

Referring to the sex abuse allegations, West allegedly told the newspaper editor it will be hard to disprove something that happened 25 years ago.

Smith said West acknowledged he knew about the rumors of his sexuality, but claimed he was celibate.

“I led a life of hell. I know the rumors [of sexual orientation] have been out there for a long time. It has been hell. I didn’t date. I was celibate. That was true. Oh God. Oh God,” Smith said West told him.