[kellyhound]

Bill Cosby has been charged with sexual assault in relation to a 2004 accusation in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Cosby, whose legacy as a comedian has been tarnished by multiple accusations of sexual assault, faces three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault in the case.

He was arraigned Wednesday afternoon, where the judge set his bail at $1 million. Cosby was looking down and was guided as he walked into the small courtroom.

Among the conditions for bail, the judge ordered Cosby to surrender his passport. Cosby’s attorney had the passport in hand and handed it over to the prosecutor.

Cosby did not enter a plea.

Following the brief arraignment, Cosby went to the police station in Cheltenham Township, where he was booked per protocol. Cosby was then seen leaving the police station.

These are the first criminal charges levied against Cosby since the allegations first arose. Cosby has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.

After looking at all the evidence in the 2004 allegations, prosecutors decided to charge Cosby “because it was the right thing to do,” Montgomery County prosecutor Kevin Steele said.

CNN has reached out to Cosby’s lawyers for comment.

The district attorney did not name the victim, but the accusations he announced parallel the allegations made by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. She has said Cosby drugged and fondled her in January 2004.

The criminal complaint and Constand’s attorney, Dolores Troiani, confirmed that the criminal charges relate to Constand’s case.

She was the first person to publicly allege sexual assault by Cosby. Prosecutors declined to file charges at that time, citing insufficient evidence.

New evidence

The criminal investigation into Cosby in Montgomery County was reopened in July after new evidence came to light, Steele said.

The evidence was court documents related to a civil suit that Constand filed against Cosby after prosecutors declined to seek charges against the comedian.

Constand settled the civil case against Cosby in 2006.

This past July — nine years after the civil case was settled — a judge decided to unseal Cosby’s deposition in that case in response to a motion by the media.

In it, Cosby admits he had sexual relationships with at least five women outside his marriage, gave prescription sedatives to women he wanted to have sex with and tried to hide affairs from his wife.

When the deposition was released and “we learned about allegations from other victims under similar circumstances, reopening this case was not a question,” Steele said. “Rather, reopening this case was our duty as law enforcement officers with a sworn obligation to uphold our constitutions and to uphold the law.”

Prosecutors reexamined the original investigation in light of the new documents, reinterviewed some witnesses and decided to pursue the criminal charge.

“The evidence shows Mr. Cosby established a relationship with the victim after meeting her through her work associated with Temple University’s women’s basketball program,” Steele said.

Constand considered Cosby a friend and mentor, but on two occasions rejected advances by Cosby, he said.

“On the evening in question, Mr. Cosby urged her to take pills that he provided to 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 said.

Pennsylvania law has a 12-year statute of limitations for sexual assault cases, a window that closes early next year.

Some unsealed documents from the civil suit revealed that Cosby has admitted to getting prescription Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with.

Asked whether investigators believe Cosby used Quaaludes in the 2004 case for which he is being charged, Steele said that pills were provided.

“There’s inconsistencies on [what pills they were]. There was also wine provided,” the prosecutor said. He said the woman has said she was “frozen, paralyzed, unable to move,” so she was therefore unable to consent to sexual activity.

Allegations gain momentum

The 78-year-old Cosby has been dogged by allegations of sexual assault. At least 50 women have come forward to publicly accuse him of assaulting them over four decades, most saying he drugged them first.

Formal accusations date back at least 10 years, when Constand went to police with her complaint.

Cosby’s reputation as a comic, beloved TV dad, philanthropist and education advocate appeared unaffected by the allegations before public sentiment took a turn in late 2014.

Comedian Hannibal Buress has been credited as the one who spotlighted the accusations. In October 2014, a video of a standup routine in which he called Cosby a “rapist” went viral, and soon after, women started coming forward with claims that they were drugged and assaulted by the TV legend.

In interviews, Buress said his intention to not to “out” Cosby, but to make a joke about Cosby’s alleged hypocrisy. Cosby created a moral image for himself as a crusader for high moral standards, Buress said in his routine, while facing accusations of rape.

Cosby filed a countersuit this month against seven women who had accused him of sexual assault and sued him for defamation. Cosby said the women’s accusations hurt his reputation so much that plans for a new family comedy on NBC were derailed.

On December 15, Cosby sued Beverly Johnson, a pioneering African-American supermodel who accused Cosby in 2014 of sexual misconduct that she says happened years ago; Johnson says the comedian drugged and tried to rape her at her New York home in the mid-1980s.

Cosby’s lawsuit says Johnson joined other women making accusations against him to revive her waning career and to help sell copies of her memoir.

The lawsuit alleges defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, saying Cosby and Johnson never spent any time alone in his house, he never drugged her and “her story is a lie.”

“I am aware of the statements from Bill Cosby,” Johnson said in a statement. “In cases of rape and abuse, abusers will do whatever they can to intimidate and weaken their victims to force them to stop fighting. I ask for your support of all of the victims involved.”

Attorney Gloria Allred, who said she represents 29 Cosby accusers (but not Constand), hailed the charges.

“I for one am very happy with this,” she told CNN. “I think the prosecutor in Pennsylvania looked at this very carefully. I don’t think this is political.”

Allred said some of her clients may be called as witnesses in the criminal case. She said she may be able to depose Cosby again because of the criminal charges.

Tom Mesereau, who defended Michael Jackson against child molestation charges, told CNN the deposition (the “new” evidence) in the Constand case may not hurt Cosby.

Mesereau said the details of the Constand deposition, viewed in context, don’t prove Cosby sexually assaulted anybody. Cosby denied giving pills to or having sex with anybody who didn’t consent, he said.

“You can’t just take snippets out of an interview and say this will get him convicted,” he said.

[Steve]

Even if he's innocent the damage is done, he will forever be labelled a rapist...at the very least a pervert.
Shit sticks...

[Oswald2001]

Women, from the beginning of time, have used their looks and p*ssies to manipulate and get what they wanted.

Cosby used his fame and wealth the same way.


Women hate to be beaten at their own manipulation game and now, so many years later, want 'revenge' because they are sore losers.

If they had not been trying to make their way with their looks and p*ssies, they wouldn't have had any problem.


They have no problem with the fact that they were playing The Game.

They only have a problem with the fact that he won and they lost The Game on some occasions with them.


The Game is a dirty game.

Users vs Users.


Don't cry when you lose.

It is your own decision to play...or not.

[cubenesis]

You are an expert on what happened in all these situations right? He was charged in the civil trial, found guilty. The civil trial only happened because there was a refusal for a criminal trial at the time. The findings of the civil trial and all these other allegations have lead to criminal charges being laid. Maybe, just maybe he didn't rape all these woman but it's apparent that he raped some of them. One makes him a rapist, if all the others are a lie that doesn't make him any less of a rapist.

[niknik]

Cosby is a rapists. No way 20+ women all just decided to make up the same lie.

Hope he goes to prison, where he belongs.

[niknik]

Originally Posted by Oswald2001 ↗

Women, from the beginning of time, have used their looks and p*ssies to manipulate and get what they wanted.

Cosby used his fame and wealth the same way.


Women hate to be beaten at their own manipulation game and now, so many years later, want 'revenge' because they are sore losers.

If they had not been trying to make their way with their looks and p*ssies, they wouldn't have had any problem.


They have no problem with the fact that they were playing The Game.

They only have a problem with the fact that he won and they lost The Game on some occasions with them.


The Game is a dirty game.

Users vs Users.


Don't cry when you lose.

It is your own decision to play...or not.

Ya but his fame and fortune allowed him to get away with things you or me would have been nailed for.

I don't like that shit, next thing you know they'll throw his race into it. Cosby for a spell was the biggest name in Hollywood, he had a lot if pull in that town.

I think some of these women acted very irresponsibly, but at the same time their only crime seems to be trusting Cosby.

What if it was your daughter he drugged and raped? I'm sure you'd feel differently about him getting away with it.

I hate gold digging women as much as anyone. But who's to say they seeked him out? Maybe he seeked them out

[Oswald2001]

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

Ya but his fame and fortune allowed him to get away with things you or me would have been nailed for.

These treacherous manipulative User women wouldn't have given him a second thought had he not had some 'gold' they could dig or some Power for which they thought they could use him.

So, it's ok for them to think that way about men...and their potential 'use'.

But when they find that they can also be viewed/treated in such a way, somehow this is 'wrong'?

They just didn't like the taste of their own medicine.

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

I think some of these women acted very irresponsibly, but at the same time their only crime seems to be trusting Cosby.

What bullsh*t.

These were not 'innocent little lambs'.

These were Cons that ended up out-conned by their 'Mark'.

They are angry because they were out-played at their own game...and LOST.

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

What if it was your daughter he drugged and raped? I'm sure you'd feel differently about him getting away with it.

I would be very unhappy that 'my' daughter was prostituting herself and using other people.

I would be sad that she had so little regard for herself.

Mostly I would be heartbroken that any daughter of 'mine' would end up being a Predator and User/Abuser.

Originally Posted by niknik ↗

I hate gold digging women as much as anyone. But who's to say they seeked him out? Maybe he seeked them out

Here you go again.

Women - anywhere - especially in Hollywood - know what men want.

These women thought that they would exploit this to their favour and it didn't work out that way.


"You can't cheat an honest...woman."


These are angry bitter Predators/Players that were Out-Preyed/Out-Played.


Also, nobody wins every game. Including Cosby.

It's just that you don't see him sniveling about his losses all these years later.


Anyone that enters into the Hollywood Sexual Snakepit knows exactly what they are doing.

[rob666]

Originally Posted by Oswald2001 ↗

These treacherous manipulative User women wouldn't have given him a second thought had he not had some 'gold' they could dig or some Power for which they thought they could use him.

So, it's ok for them to think that way about men...and their potential 'use'.

But when they find that they can also be viewed/treated in such a way, somehow this is 'wrong'?

They just didn't like the taste of their own medicine.





What bullsh*t.

These were not 'innocent little lambs'.

These were Cons that ended up out-conned by their 'Mark'.

They are angry because they were out-played at their own game...and LOST.





I would be very unhappy that 'my' daughter was prostituting herself and using other people.

I would be sad that she had so little regard for herself.

Mostly I would be heartbroken that any daughter of 'mine' would end up being a Predator.




Here you go again.

Women - anywhere - especially in Hollywood - know what men want.

These women thought that they would exploit this to their favour and it didn't work out that way.


"You can't cheat an honest...woman."


These are angry bitter Predators/Players that were Out-Preyed/Out-Played.


Also, nobody wins every game. Including Cosby.

It's just that you don't see him sniveling about his losses all these years later.


Anyone that enters into the Hollywood Sexual Snakepit knows exactly what they are doing.

I don't think you like women very much

[Broadjumper]

Originally Posted by rob666 ↗

I don't think you like women very much

That's Ok, they don't like him much either - his longest relationship was about $100

[Morbid75]

Originally Posted by Oswald2001 ↗

Women, from the beginning of time, have used their looks and p*ssies to manipulate and get what they wanted.

Cosby used his fame and wealth the same way.


Women hate to be beaten at their own manipulation game and now, so many years later, want 'revenge' because they are sore losers.

If they had not been trying to make their way with their looks and p*ssies, they wouldn't have had any problem.


They have no problem with the fact that they were playing The Game.

They only have a problem with the fact that he won and they lost The Game on some occasions with them.


The Game is a dirty game.

Users vs Users.


Don't cry when you lose.

It is your own decision to play...or not.

There are women who did go to Cosby with the intention of furthering their career. I think they probably trusted him because he did seem so family oriented. There are a lot of predators in Hollywood and some women would do anything for fame.

But there were other women who were not looking for fame who have come forward. People he worked with and were just having coffee with. There were no expectations.

Have some women jumped on the bandwagon for money? It is possible and they will likely be discredited.

However, I believe there were victims of sexual assault because when you drug someone against their will and have sex with them you have raped them and that is a crime.

This is disturbing behavior whether the women were gold diggers or not. Eventually his fame and money will be gone but I doubt he will stop his behavior. He has developed a pattern and will keep on going.