Second 'Charles In Charge' Child Actor Accuses Scott Baio Of Sexual Misconduct

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) – A second child actor on the 1980s show "Charles in Charge" has accused Scott Baio of sexual misconduct.

The now 43-year-old Alexander Polinsky, who played Adam Powell on the long-running sitcom, detailed the allegations in a news conference alongside celebrity attorney Lisa Bloom and fellow "Charles in Charge" actress Nicole Eggert at Bloom's Woodland Hills office Wednesday morning.

"I was sexually harassed by Scott Baio and ultimately assaulted by him between the ages of 12 and 15 years old," Polinsky told a gathering of reporters.

Last month, Eggert – who played Jamie Powell on the show – accused Baio of inappropriately touching her when she was 14 and carrying on an inappropriate sexual relationship with her as a minor. Polinsky Wednesday said that during the first season of the show, he walked in on Eggert sitting on Baio's lap. Eggert said he "misjudged" the situation, and when he himself tried to jump in Baio's lap, Baio shoved him off and called him a gay slur.

"I saw their relationship develop on the set in the coming months and years and it was very distressing to me to see a man I looked up to behaving in this way with someone who is very close to my age," Polinsky said.

Polinsky said that in response to what he saw that day, he was bullied and harassed by Baio for a period of several years.

"Scott Baio began a pattern of abuse that was unrelenting," Polinsky said.

Polinsky claims Baio used repeated gay slurs against him and told him inappropriate stories about "his sexual conquests with young girls and the costars of the show." One time Baio "pulled down my pants in front of over one hundred people," and on another occasion, "exposed his genitals to me," Polinsky added.

However, Polinsky emphasized that he was not himself sexually abused by Baio.

"There was no sexual abuse," Baio said.

Bloom told reporters that Eggert filed a Los Angeles police report against Baio on Feb. 6. Polinsky also spoke to police at that time, Bloom disclosed.

"There is a possibility of criminal action," Bloom said.

Both Eggert and Polinsky claimed that Baio's actions were witnessed by others on set, but wouldn't act because he was the star of the show.

"We have more than 10 to 12 on-set witnesses," Eggert said Wednesday.

KCAL9's Amy Johnson attended the press conference.

Polinsky said he is hoping Baio will do the right thing and admit wrongdoing.

"He abused me in public," Polinsky said, "and I would like a public apology."

Baio's attorneys held their own news conference Wednesday afternoon. Baio was not in attendance, but his spokesman, Brian Glicklich, read a statement from Baio. It read, in part:

"For reasons I don't understand, I am the target of false claims that threaten everything that is important in my life. I am hurt and I am angry. But mostly, I am stunned that anyone could be so cruel, as to attack not just me, but my family with lies."

Glicklich said Baio could not attend the news conference because he was at a party at his daughter's school.

As for the apology, Glicklich said, "You can't apologize for something you didn't do."

Eggert told "The Dr. Oz Show" that they were in a car outside his home when Baio "reached out and started touching me, below the belt, in the female parts." She said Baio made it clear that nobody could know, that it was illegal and "everybody could lose their job, even myself...so I stayed silent."

Eggert, who also made the allegations on "Megyn Kelly Today," said Baio had sexual intercourse with her when she was 17. The age of consent in California is 18.

"He sort of manipulated me in the way of, 'Let me get you ready for boys your own age,'" Eggert said. "I agreed to that. It was awkward to say the least."

Baio is more than 11 years older than Eggert.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)