Kevin Spacey Arraigned On Sexual Assault Charges
NANTUCKET, Mass. (CBSLA/AP) — Kevin Spacey must stay away from the young man who accused him of groping him at a Nantucket bar in 2016, a judge ordered Monday.
The disgraced actor was arraigned on a charge of felony indecent assault and battery during a hearing at Nantucket District Court. He did not enter a plea. The judge set another hearing for March 4. Spacey does not have to appear, the judge ruled, but said he needs to be available by phone.
The judge granted a request by Spacey's lawyers to preserve the victim's cellphone data for six months after the alleged assault. Spacey Attorney Alan Jackson said there is data that is "likely exculpatory" for Spacey.
Spacey and his lawyers declined to comment as they left the courthouse amid a crush of reporters
It's the first criminal case brought against Spacey, 59, since other allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against him in 2017.
In an emotional press conference back in November of 2017, Heather Unruh, a former news anchor, alleged that Spacey had grabbed her then 18-year-old son's genitals at the Club Car Restaurant. Unruh said Spacey bought her son "drink after drink" and then stuck his hand down the teen's pants and grabbed his genitals.
She said her son didn't initially report the incident to police at the time because of "embarrassment and fear", adding that "women who have come forward in the [Harvey] Weinstein case have paved the way" for her son and other alleged victims to speak out.
According to Unruh, her son reported the incident to Nantucket police in the fall of 2017.
The victim allegedly shot cell phone video of the incident, according to state police reports. The victim sent a Snapchat video to his girlfriend that allegedly showed Spacey touching the front of his pants, according to state police reports filed in Nantucket District Court and obtained by the Cape Cod Times.
Although Snapchat videos disappear after a certain length of time, they can be saved. Investigators have purportedly obtained the footage.
He told police that it was hard to move away in the crowded Club Car restaurant, where he worked as a bus boy, but was off duty at the time.
"He tried to twist his body and move away, and move Spacey's hands away with his hands, but Spacey kept reaching inside his pants," State Trooper Gerald Donovan said in audio recorded from last week's hearing and obtained by CBS Boston.
"At some point (he) texted his girlfriend, sent an electronic message to his girlfriend, that he thinks Kevin Spacey is trying to rape him," Donovan said.
On Dec. 24 -- the same day the Cape and Island District Attorney charged the Oscar-winning actor -- Spacey made his first public appearance since the sexual assault allegations against him surfaced: in the form of a bizarre three-minute video posted to his YouTube channel. In the video, he addresses the public as his character from the Netflix series "House of Cards," Francis Underwood. In the video, Spacey speaks to the camera while wearing an apron and cooking in a kitchen.
"I know what you want. Oh sure, they may have tried to separate us. But what we have is too strong, too powerful," Spacey said in the video. "I mean, after all, we shared everything, you and I. I told you my deepest, darkest secrets. I showed you exactly what people are capable of. I shocked you with my honesty, but mostly I challenged you and made you think. And you trusted me even though you knew you shouldn't. So we're not done, no matter what anyone says. And besides, I know what you want. You want me back.
"Of course, some believed everything and have just been waiting with baited breath to hear me confess it all; they're just dying to have me declare that everything said is true, and that I got what I deserved. Wouldn't that be easy if it was all so simple?"
Spacey has also been the focus of multiple sexual assault investigations in Los Angeles, New York and London.
The slew of allegations began in October 2017, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, when actor Anthony Rapp claimed that a 26-year-old Spacey had made sexual advances towards him in 1986 in Spacey's New York City apartment, when Rapp was 14.
In response, Spacey said he was "beyond horrified", adding that he doesn't remember the encounter. In the same statement, Spacey came out as gay, leading to a flood of criticism against the actor.
"I choose now to live as a gay man," Spacey wrote.
Following Rapp's claim, several allegations poured in against Spacey, prompting Netflix to kick him off "House of Cards."
Actor Harry Dreyfuss, the son of Richard Dreyfuss, said he was groped by Spacey in 2008 in Spacey's apartment.
In November 2017, London's Old Vic Theater, where Spacey had served as artistic director from 2004 to 2015, announced that it had received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior against him. In July, British authorities confirmed that they are investigating six claims of sexual assault against Spacey, three more than previously disclosed.
In an extraordinary move, Spacey was pulled from the Ridley Scott movie "All the Money in the World" after it had finished filming. Spacey, who played billionaire J. Paul Getty in the film, was replaced by veteran actor Christopher Plummer. In the span of a few weeks, Scott reshot all Spacey's scenes with Plummer, and had the film finished and edited in time for its Dec. 22, 2017, release.
In April and August of this year, the L.A. County district attorney's office confirmed it was reviewing two separate cases for possible sex crimes charges against Spacey. In September, prosecutors declined to file charges against Spacey for an alleged assault that occurred in West Hollywood in 1992 because the case was beyond the statute of limitations.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
