May 26 (UPI) — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, who was accused five years ago of sexually assaulting a man in the 1980s, was charged on Thursday with several criminal counts also alleging sexual assault.
The charges are based on the accusations of three men who said the incidents occurred in Britain over an eight-year period from 2005 to 2013.”The authority to charge follows a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in its investigation,” the CPS said in a statement Thursday.
“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offense, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for a criminal court to consider,” the agency added.
The sexual assaults that Spacey is being charged with occurred in London and Gloucestershire, prosecutors said.
The incidents related to the three assault charges occurred in both cities in 2005, 2008 and 2013 and the accusation of nonconsensual activity occurred in London in 2008, according to the complaint.
Incidentally, Spacey was in a New York City courtroom on Thursday when the new charges were announced, where he was scheduled to testify in a civil case relating to the sex assault accusation in 2017.
The accusation five years ago was made by fellow actor Anthony Rapp, who said at the time that he was sexually assaulted by Spacey in the mid-1980s while both were acting on Broadway. Rapp was about 15 at the time and Spacey was 27.
Spacey responded to Rapp’s accusation in 2017 by saying that he didn’t remember the encounter, but that he was “beyond horrified” to hear about it. The two-time Oscar winner also announced in his response that he is gay.
Spacey won Academy Awards for his performances in “American Beauty” (1999) and “The Usual Suspects” (1996). Rapp has also appeared in various films, including “Dazed and Confused” (1993) and “A Beautiful Mind” (2001).
