Elkins Park, PA — Actor/ comedian Bill Cosby, who has been accused by more than 50 women of sexual assault, has for the first time ever been arrested and officially charged for at least one of the accusations. The arrest warrant was issued for Cosby for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee at his Pennsylvania mansion back in January 2004.
His lawyers commented, “The charge by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office came as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and coming on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county’s DA during which this case was made the focal point. Make no mistake, we intend to mount a vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect that Mr. Cosby will be exonerated by a court of law.”
But Montgomery County District Attorney-Elect Kevin Steele fired back and said, “A prosecutor’s job is to follow the evidence wherever it leads and whenever it comes to light. Upon examination of all the evidence, today we are able to seek justice on behalf of the victim.”
But why re-open the case?
Prosecutors say the the release of a deposition last summer from a 2005 civil suit filed by Constand caused the District Attorney’s office to reopen the case. In that deposition, Cosby admitted to giving quaaludes, a sedative and hypnotic medication, to women he wanted to have sex with.
Cosby has previously said what happened between him and Constand was consensual, but in more recent court filings Constand said it was not consensual, and that she was in a relationship with another woman at the time.
The statute of limitations to charge Cosby would have run out in January 2016, so the arrest was made just in time.