Prosecutor: Bill Cosby ‘Committed Aggravated Indecent Assault’ In 2004 Case (Video)

Bill Cosby will be charged with a felony in a 2004 sexual assault case from 2004.

Bill Cosby will face a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault in the case of a former Temple University employee stemming back to an event in 2004. The charge is a first-degree felony, and carries a possible 10-year sentence.

“Upon examination of all of the evidence, today we are able to seek justice on behalf of Mr. Cosby’s victim,” Kevin Steele, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania first assistant district attorney, said. Steele is the incoming District Attorney. 

Steele says Cosby twice had “made two sexual advances … that were rejected.”

“On the evening in question, Mr. Cosby urged her to take pills, which he provided her, and to drink wine, the effect of which rendered her unable to move or respond to his advances, and he committed aggravated indecent assault upon her,” Steele accuses.

READ: Bill Cosby, Himself: Fame, Narcissism and Sexual Violence

This is the first criminal case against Cosby, 78, who has been accused by more than 40 women (some say more than 50 women) of similar acts across the course of four decades.

Cosby has previously denied the allegations and has made no comment on today’s charges, and will be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

The victim has been named in multiple news media outlets as Andrea Constand. The AP reports Constand has given permission for her name to be used.

“Her lawyer has said Constand is gay and was dating a woman around the time she met Cosby in the early 2000s,” the AP reports, adding that it “persuaded a judge to unseal documents from the Constand lawsuit, and they showed the long-married Cosby acknowledging a string of affairs and sexual encounters.”

Cosby testified that he obtained quaaludes in the 1970s to give to women he wanted to have sex with. He denied giving women drugs without their knowledge and said he had used the now-banned sedative “the same as a person would say, ‘Have a drink.'”

In the deposition, Cosby said he put his hands down Constand’s pants that night and fondled her, taking her silence as a green light. Constand maintains she was semi-conscious after he gave her pills he said would relax her.

“I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything. And so I continue and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped,” Cosby testified.

 

EARLIER:

New York Magazine Puts 35 Of The 46 Women Who Have Accused Bill Cosby Of Sexual Assault On Its Cover

Watch: Asked About Bill Cosby, Obama Offers Definition Of Rape

Breaking: Bill Cosby Admitted To Obtaining Quaaludes To Give To Women For Sex – Report

 

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.

Image: Screenshot via CNN/Twitter