Comedian Bill Cosby Charged with Sexual Assault

Bill Cosby has been charged with sexual assault over an encounter with a woman 12 years ago, according to the Associated Press and people familiar with the case. A former Temple University employee told police that Cosby, 78, drugged and violated her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004.

The once celebrated actor and comedian previously admitted under oath to drugging several women with the intent to having sex with them, though he claimed to have consensual sex. While a previous district attorney declined to charge Cosby in 2005, prosecutors reopened the case over the summer due to the damaging testimony that was unsealed in a related civil lawsuit against Cosby.

Dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations that made a mockery of his image as the wise and understanding Dr. Cliff Huxtable from TV’s “The Cosby Show.”

Many of those alleged assaults date back decades, and the statute of limitations for bringing charges has expired in nearly every case. But Pennsylvania law gives prosecutors up to 12 years for some sex crimes, with the clock running out on this case in January.

The former university employee settled her lawsuit against Cosby in 2006 on confidential terms. A lawyer for Cosby did not immediately return request for comment.

Cosby recently filed a lawsuit alleging seven of the woman who accused him of sexual assault engaged in “nothing more than an opportunistic attempt to extract financial gain from him.” The comedian is seeking an unspecified amount in monetary damages and claimed the women inflicted emotional distress. As a result of the revelations, Boston University announced last month that it was rescinding an honorary degree they awarded to the entertainer in May 2014.