LONDON, England —

Kevin Spacey took a dramatic pause in his testimony Thursday and appeared to almost choke up as he recalled the “intimate” and “somewhat sexual” friendship he shared with a man now accusing the actor of violently groping him. He said he was “crushed” when he learned of the allegations.

“I never thought that (the man) I knew would ... 20 years later stab me in the back,” Spacey testified in his own defense in his sexual assault trial in what could be the most consequential speaking part of his life.

Spacey spoke in a calm voice and earnest demeanor — humorous, humble and self-deprecating at times — as he breezed over his career and then fast-forwarded to the early 2000s when he was in London working at the Old Vic Theatre.

Four men have accused the two-time Oscar winner of sexually assaulting them between 2001 and 2013, describing disturbing encounters that escalated from unwanted touching to aggressive crotch grabbing. One man who called Spacey a “vile sexual predator” said he passed out or fell asleep at the actor’s London flat and woke up to find the actor performing oral sex on him.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew has called Spacey a “sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable.”

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

One of his accusers said Spacey on several occasions over the years had touched his inner thigh, buttocks and crotch in unwelcome ways that made him uncomfortable.

The fondling culminated when the man was once driving Spacey and the actor grabbed his crotch so violently he almost ran off the road, the man had testified.

The alleged victim told police he warned Spacey to never do it again and threatened to knock him out.

“That never happened,” Spacey testified. “I was not on a suicide mission in any of those years.”

He described the relationship much differently, appearing wistful as he looked at a photo the man sent him from a mountainous trek he took to raise money for charity.

Spacey said the man was funny and charming and recalled their flirtatious time together, saying he probably took the lead in making physical contact: “I'm a big flirt.”

Slowly, the two men began touching each other, Spacey said, but it never went much further, because the man made it clear he didn't want that.

“He said things like, ‘This is new for me,’ so I think he may have been surprised by his reaction,” Spacey said. “The only thing he made clear was he didn’t want to go further than we were going and I respected that.”

Spacey's description of gentle stroking was in direct contradiction to what the alleged victims testified about. They said he caught them by surprise when he aggressively grabbed their privates through their clothing.

“It wasn’t like a caress," one man testified. "It was like a cobra coming out and getting hold.”

Spacey called that man's account “madness” and said it never happened. He also denied he made racially offensive remarks to the man during a rehearsal for a charity theater event.

Spacey poked a hole in the driver's story by calling the timing of the account into question. The man testified he was grabbed while driving Spacey in 2004 or 2005 to an annual gala that Elton John holds.

Spacey presented work schedules and itineraries that showed he was filming far away — once in Australia — those years. He said he only attended the event in 2001.

The man said he could have had the dates wrong, but that he remembered the groping incident being the last straw. He said he stopped spending time around him after that incident.

Spacey testified that the man still has photos of the two of them together posted on social media.

Spacey began his testimony revisiting his start in theater and transition to the big screen, career, joking that his mother would say that he began acting the moment he emerged from the womb.

The American actor was one of the biggest stars of the silver and small screens when sexual misconduct accusations brought his career to a halt. If convicted, he could face a prison term that would doom his hopes of a comeback.

Spacey told German magazine Zeit in an article published last month: “There are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”

Spacey, who owns homes in London and the U.S., is free on unconditional bail.

Just as a trial was to begin, it was revealed Tuesday that Cuba Gooding Jr. has settled accusations that he raped a woman in a New York City hotel a decade ago, according to court records. The actor had insisted through lawyers that his encounter with the woman was consensual after the two met at a nearby restaurant.

Related video above: Cuba Gooding Jr. plead guilty to forcibly kissing a woman in 2022

The trial was to start with jury selection in New York federal court as the Oscar-winning "Jerry Maguire" star faced allegations that he met the woman in Manhattan, persuaded her to join him at a hotel, and convinced her to stop at his room so he could change clothes.

The woman had proceeded anonymously until last week, when Judge Paul A. Crotty ruled that she would have to reveal her name at trial. She said in her lawsuit that Gooding raped her in his room. His lawyers, though, insisted that it was consensual sex and that she bragged afterward to others that she had sex with a celebrity.

The lawsuit sought $6 million in damages. Attorney Gloria Allred, one of several representing the woman, declined comment. The lawsuit was filed against a man who authorities say has been accused of committing sexual misconduct against more than 30 other women, including groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.

Late last week, the judge seemed to strengthen the woman's hand at trial and in settlement negotiations by ruling that he would let three women testify that they also were subjected to sudden sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults after meeting Gooding in social settings such as festivals, bars, nightclubs and restaurants.

One of the women who had planned to testify at the trial was Kelsey Harbert, who told police Gooding fondled her without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square in 2019.

Harbert said last year after Gooding pleaded guilty in New York state court to a charge that spared him from jail or a criminal history that never getting her day in court was "more disappointing than words can say."

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they grant permission, as Harbert has done.

Gooding, a star in films including "Boyz n the Hood" and "Radio," was permitted to plead guilty in April 2022 to a misdemeanor, admitting that he forcibly kissed a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018.

By staying out of trouble and completing six months of alcohol and behavioral counseling, Gooding was permitted to withdraw his guilty plea and plead guilty to a non-criminal harassment violation, eliminating his criminal record and preventing further penalties.

HAZARD, Ky. (LEX 18) — Hazard High School's recent homecoming rally "Man Pageant" isn't the first time Principal Donald "Happy" Mobelini has faced controversy involving students.

Mobelini, who is also mayor of Hazard, was accused in a 2019 lawsuit of providing a lack of supervision on a class trip during which a female student was allegedly assaulted by another student.

According to court documents, the female student alleges that some of the students on the trip, who were juniors at the time, were in a single hotel room drinking alcohol. The young woman claims she was physically and sexually assaulted by a fellow male student when he walked her back to her room later that night. At no time did the two other teacher chaperones check on the students, despite noise coming from their rooms and in the hallway.

The following day, she reported the assault to principal Mobelini. The two other teachers made offensive comments, including "This was all her fault" and "She wasn't telling the truth." The female student alleges that at no time was she encouraged to see a doctor and was only given medical care once she returned home from the trip. She claims that a lack of adequate adult supervision on this trip led to her assault.

Allegedly, educators knew drinking and partying would happen on the trip because of similar behavior during previous school trips to places like Chicago and the Bahamas.

State officials previously investigated Mobelini after photos surfaced on Facebook, showing him driving students around as they smoked and drank alcohol, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

In 2008, police caught students drinking on the football field, only moments after Mobelini walked away.

During both of these incidents, Mobelini did not get into trouble because he said he didn't know about the drinking.

A jury trial is scheduled for August 2022.

When he was 20 years old in 2010, Kyle Beach was pursuing his NHL dream when he was called up to the Chicago Blackhawks as a "Black Ace," a prospect player who could be available to play for the NHL club if needed. It was a couple of weeks later, Beach, now 31, said in an interview Wednesday with Canadian sports television station TSN, that his life "was changed forever."

On Tuesday, the NHL announced it had fined the Blackhawks $2 million for what the league described as "the organization's inadequate internal procedures and insufficient and untimely response" relating to the team's handling of ​alleged incidents of sexual misconduct involving former video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010. The league says it punished the team following an independent investigation.

The Blackhawks commissioned a probe after a lawsuit was filed over the 2010 incident earlier this year by an unidentified hockey player, according to the report. The independent investigation determined that on May 8 or 9, 2010, there was a sexual encounter between Aldrich and the unidentified 20-year-old player, who was a member of the Blackhawks' minor league affiliate team, at Aldrich's apartment. The player alleged that Aldrich sexually assaulted him while Aldrich contended that the encounter was consensual, the report reads.

Beach, who now plays professionally in Germany, has come forward as the "John Doe" in the report and as "John Doe" in the lawsuit. On Wednesday, he expressed "a great feeling of relief and vindication" and that "it was no longer my word against everybody else's."

Beach also said he wanted to come forward and put his name on this.

"To be honest, it's already out there," Beach said to TSN. "The details were pretty accurate in the report, and it's been figured out. But more than that, I've been a survivor, I am a survivor. And I know I'm not alone. I know I'm not the only one, male or female. And I buried this for 10 years, 11 years. And it's destroyed me from the inside out."

Following TSN's interview with Beach, the Blackhawks released a statement, saying the club commended Beach in coming forward.

"As an organization, the Chicago Blackhawks reiterate our deepest apologies to him for what he has gone through and for the organization's failure to promptly respond when he bravely brought this matter to light in 2010," the statement said. "It was inexcusable for the then-executives of the Blackhawks organization to delay taking action regarding the reported sexual misconduct. No playoff game or championship is more important than protecting our players and staff from predatory behavior."

'Focus on the team and the playoffs'

Blackhawks president of hockey operations and general manager Stan Bowman and senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac resigned Tuesday after their alleged roles in the matter were detailed in the investigation conducted by law firm Jenner & Block, LLP.

According to the investigation report, MacIsaac, then the Blackhawks senior director of hockey administration, became aware of the incident on May 23, 2010, and dispatched team mental skills coach and team counselor Jim Gary to interview the player, who said that Aldrich had pressured him to have sex and threatened his career if he refused.

Later that day, the investigation report said, a meeting of Blackhawks senior leadership was convened to discuss the situation.

Bowman recalled, according to the investigation report, that then-president John McDonough and then-head coach Joel Quenneville "made comments about the challenge of getting to the Stanley Cup Finals and a desire to focus on the team and the playoffs." Just hours earlier, Chicago had won the Western Conference Championship to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Quenneville currently is the head coach for the Florida Panthers.

When discussing the situation years later with another team employee, MacIsaac said that McDonough wanted to avoid negative publicity during the playoffs. Bowman recalled McDonough telling the group he would handle the situation, according to the investigation report.

But Aldrich continued to travel and work with the team, per ​the investigation report, throughout the playoffs, and the investigation found no sign that any action was taken to address the situation until June 14, after the season had ended. The Blackhawks' policy, at the time, was that all reports of sexual harassment would be investigated "promptly and thoroughly."

The report said, "Our investigation uncovered no evidence, however, that McDonough or anyone else either contacted Human Resources or initiated an investigation between May 23 and June 14."

During the interim, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup on June 9, and during a team celebration on June 10, Aldrich allegedly made a sexual advance toward a 22-year-old team intern. The intern rejected Aldrich's advance, but did not report the incident, the investigation report reads. It was not clear from the report how the alleged incident involving the intern ultimately came to light.

"The failure to promptly and thoroughly investigate the matter not only violated the Blackhawks' own sexual harassment policy in effect at the time, the decision to take no action from May 23 to June 14, 2010, had real consequences, including allegations involving an additional unwanted sexual advance by Aldrich to a Blackhawks' intern before he was ultimately separated from the Club," the NHL said.

Aldrich was paid severance and had his name engraved on the Stanley Cup

On June 14, 2010, McDonough informed team human resources about the incident and the May 23 team leadership meeting. McDonough said, according to the director of human resources, "it was decided that the group would not alert Human Resources or do anything about the incident during the playoffs so as not to disturb team chemistry." McDonough told investigators he did not recall this conversation.

Nearly a decade later, the Blackhawks fired McDonough. The team did not state the reason for the firing on its press release last year. The team said, "it was the right decision for the future of the organization and its fans."

The director of human resources met with Aldrich on June 16, 2010, offering him the option of an investigation of the incident with the unnamed player or resigning. Aldrich opted to resign and no team investigation was ever conducted, according to the investigation report.

Aldrich received severance and a playoff bonus. His name was engraved on the Stanley Cup. He received a championship ring and was allowed to take the Stanley Cup to his hometown for a day, per ​the investigation report.

"The only way I could describe it was that I felt sick, I felt sick to my stomach," Beach told TSN of watching Aldrich interacting with the team when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

"I reported this and I was made aware that it made it all the way up the chain of command by 'Doc' Gary and nothing happened. It was like his life was the same as it was the day before. The same every day. And then when they won, to see him paraded around lifting the Cup, at the parade, at the team pictures, at celebrations, it made me feel like nothing. It made me feel like I didn't exist. It made me feel like, that I wasn't important and...it made me feel like he was in the right and I was wrong."

CNN has reached out to MacIsaac, Quenneville, Aldrich and McDonough for comment. CNN has attempted to reach out to Gary for comment.

In a statement Tuesday, Bowman said, "The team needs to focus on its future, and my continued participation would be a distraction. I think too much of this organization to let that happen." Bowman also stepped down from his position as general manager of the 2022 U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey Team, according to USA Hockey.

The Blackhawks organization apologized to its fans in a letter published Tuesday, saying, "It is clear the organization and its executives at that time did not live up to our own standards or values in handling these disturbing incidents. We deeply regret the harm caused to John Doe and the other individuals who were affected and the failure to promptly respond. As an organization, we extend our profound apologies to the individuals who suffered from these experiences. We must — and will — do better."

PHILADELPHIA —

A prominent Bill Cosby accuser filed suit Thursday against the actor over a 1990 hotel room encounter in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before the state's two-year window to file older sexual assault claims expires.

Related video above: Concern for survivors after Cosby conviction overturned

Los Angeles artist Lili Bernard told The Associated Press she was prompted in part by Cosby's recent release from prison. The 84-year-old Cosby has been free since June, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction in another case on procedural grounds.

He had served more than two years of a potential 10-year sentence.

The 57-year-old Bernard says Cosby drugged and raped her in a hotel room after promising to mentor her on his top-ranked TV show. She was 26 at the time.

New Jersey's two-year window to file sexual assault lawsuits that would otherwise be considered too old to pursue closes next month.

"When Bill Cosby was released, it retraumatized me, it terrified me. I was really horrified for any woman or girl that would come into contact with him," Bernard told the AP. "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court let a predator back on the streets."

The Pennsylvania trial judge had classified Cosby as a sexually violent predator subject to lifetime supervision, but that finding became moot when the conviction was overturned, leaving Cosby free of any reporting requirements.

Cosby's spokesperson said that so-called "look-back" windows like the one passed in New Jersey violate a person's due process rights.

"This is just another attempt to abuse the legal process, by opening up the flood gates for people who never presented an ounce of evidence," spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said, noting that Cosby maintains his innocence and would fight allegations to "the highest court in these United States of America."

Prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia must decide soon whether to appeal the reversal of his conviction in their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A jury had convicted Cosby of sexually assaulting Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand at his home in January 2004 after incapacitating her with three blue pills. Cosby was arrested in 2015, days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

The state Supreme Court said the case should not have gone to trial because Cosby believed he had a binding promise from an earlier prosecutor that he would never be charged.

Cosby settled a civil lawsuit with Constand for $3.4 million. His insurer, after the conviction, settled a defamation lawsuit filed by seven accusers in Massachusetts for an undisclosed amount.

The AP typically does not identify people who say they are sexual assault victims without their permission, which both Constand and Bernard have granted.

Video above: 30 years later, Anita Hill has lots more to say

America had yet to really understand sexual harassment when Anita Hill testified against Clarence Thomas in front of an all-male Senate panel in October 1991. He was confirmed to the Supreme Court anyway, but Hill’s work was just beginning.

Now, three decades later, what does 65-year-old Hill wish she could have told 35-year-old Hill, the young professor in the bright blue suit who testified calmly and deliberately that day but had utterly no idea what lay ahead?

"I wish I had known then that the work would take a long time," she says now. "That I should be patient — diligent, but patient." As a lawyer, she had thought institutions would do their job, she says. "What I wasn’t understanding was our culture of denial."

It’s safe to say the soft-spoken Hill, an exceedingly private person who has spent her entire adult life in the classroom, didn’t grow up planning to become an activist. But the Thomas hearings set her on a different path, and when the #MeToo reckoning exploded in 2017, she was automatically a potent symbol. She still teaches gender, race and law at Brandeis University and also chairs the Hollywood Commission, which fights harassment in the entertainment industry, along with other advocacy work.

So it seems appropriate that Hill’s latest project is one that combines her paths of academia and activism. Her new book, "Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence," is a heavily researched look at gender violence — tracing its roots, measuring its impact, and suggesting ways to fight it.

Sitting down last week with The Associated Press to discuss the book — her third — Hill said the project gained urgency in early 2020 as the pandemic took hold. She was disturbed to hear that intimate partner violence had surged in the early days of the pandemic.

Through a mix of academic studies, legal analysis, anecdotes and interviews, Hill looks at different spheres of society and finds that although there’s surely a better understanding of sexual harassment and gender violence now than three decades ago — when Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson referred at the hearing to "that sexual harassment crap" — there's a lack of comprehension of how deeply rooted the problems are.

She also says it’s unrealistic to expect a younger generation’s more evolved values will be enough to eradicate gender violence, an idea she calls "the myth of the woke generation." First of all, beliefs in any generation are mixed, but also, it's the institutions and systems that need to change, she says.

"It’s really dangerous for us to think that gender violence is not a huge problem, that it is not a problem that’s affecting (all of us)," Hill says. "There’s probably not anyone who doesn’t have a story about something that happened to them or to someone they know."

And, she says, despite the power of millions of #MeToo tweets sharing such experiences that launched the movement in 2017, a year later at Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court hearing, "Christine Blasey Ford testified about her own experience with sexual assault ... and the Senate seemed to refuse to even do a thorough investigation. So, it is endemic and it’s systemic." And men can experience gender violence as well, she points out — often when they don’t conform to conventional notions of masculinity or gender expression.

Her reference to Ford’s testimony in the book is especially poignant. On the day Ford, a fellow academic, testified, Hill was watching from far off at the University of Utah, where she was speaking to a women's studies class. But they met a year later. Hill says they share a unique bond.

"She and I are the two people in the world who have gone through it," she says. "I knew this was going to change her life forever, and wanted to hear from her just on a personal basis, how things were going, how she was handling it, and to reassure her things would get better." (Ford recently participated in a new podcast with Hill, "Because of Anita")

One thing Hill can identify with only too well: the condemnation and threats that Ford received. "Certainly there were years that I felt threatened," Hill says. "I felt fortunate that I didn’t have children ... I did have elderly parents that I feared for and felt very protective of."

She got through it, she says, "by just being out in the world, not hiding from it, going out and doing public speaking, being engaged." And by listening to victims’ stories — "knowing that there was something bigger and something more important, and that I could make a difference in the lives of the people who were suffering."

What Hill has learned, she says, is that attitudes may have evolved, but systems and institutions haven't kept pace. "It’s not enough for us as a society to change," she says. "If we keep the same systems in place, the problem’s going to keep repeating itself."

She is, though, buoyed by what she calls the thorough investigation conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James into accusations of harassment against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which led to his resignation. That probe, she says, should serve as "a model" for future such cases.

Hill is also concerned about the dual impact of racism and sexism, and the intersection of two struggles that she, like #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, feels need to be addressed together. She points out that statistics show "the risk of being a victim of gender violence is enhanced depending on your race. How can you resolve that problem without looking at both? You cannot resolve the problems that women of color face unless you're attending to the problem of racism in this country."

Another point Hill addresses in her book: the long-awaited apology offered her in 2019 by Joe Biden, who had chaired a skeptical Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 when she testified that Thomas had harassed her when she worked for him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Hill has said the committee refused to seriously examine her accusations and, crucially, did not allow testimony from other potential witnesses.

Hill jokes in the book that she and her husband used to say, when their doorbell would ring unexpectedly in Massachusetts, that it was Biden coming to apologize. When he finally called just before entering the presidential campaign, she writes that she asked him to take on, as a calling, ending gender-based violence.

"I’m not sure he heard me," she writes.

But Hill has hopes that Biden, now that he holds the highest office in the land, can make good on her request. "I believe that President Biden has a special role in the history of these issues that gives him an opportunity to make good on his responsibilities," she says now.

Asked whether she actually expects it to happen, Hill replies: "I’m always a very hopeful person." But, she adds, "I will continue to advocate whether it’s this president or the next president. That is something that I imagine I’ll be doing for the rest of my life."

Video above: Six women share how #MeToo changed their lives

Women who have been sexually assaulted have a higher risk of developing a type of brain damage that has been linked to cognitive decline, dementia and stroke, a new study found.

"It could be either childhood sexual abuse or adult sexual assault," said study author Rebecca Thurston, a professor and director of the Women's Biobehavioral Health Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health.

"Based upon population data, most women have their sexual assaults when they are in early adolescence and early adulthood," she added, "so these are likely early experiences that we're seeing the marks of later in life."

Physical manifestations

The new study, presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the North American Menopause Society, adds to a growing body of research on the long-term impact of sexual assault on the body and the mind.

"We need to keep our attention on this issue of sexual violence against women and not let it fall off the radar screen of society, because it continues to be a major women's health issue," Thurston said.

Prior studies have found sexual trauma to be linked to higher levels of triglycerides and blood pressure in midlife, and a three-fold greater risk of developing carotid plaque, all key risk factors for heart disease.

In addition, a 2018 study Thurston conducted found women who reported prior sexual assault were three times more likely to experience depression and twice as likely to have elevated anxiety and insomnia than women without a history of sexual trauma.

Depression, anxiety and sleep disorders are all linked to poorer health outcomes, including heart disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC statistics also show more than 1 in 3 women in the U.S. (and 1 in 4 men) experience sexual assault at least once in their lifetimes. Considering the widespread impact, Thurston said physicians should be asking their patients about any prior sexual trauma, and then carefully monitoring the woman's cardiovascular risk as she ages.

Women who have been sexually traumatized should also feel empowered to speak up and tell their doctors, she added.

"Absolutely share this information with your health care providers," Thurston said. "This is not your fault, so please share what you are comfortable with disclosing. It's important information that has implications for your physical health and your emotional well-being."

Looking at the brain

The new study, which will publish soon in the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior, looked for signs of white matter hyperintensities in the brain scans of 145 midlife women with no prior history of cardiovascular disease, stroke or dementia. However, 68% of participants had experienced trauma, and for 23% of the women, that trauma was sexual assault.

White matter hyperintensities, which show up as small spots of white on MRIs, are markers of disruptions in blood flow that have left damage in the brain.

"Using brain imaging, we found that women with a history of sexual assault have greater white matter hyperintensities in the brain, which is an indicator of small vessel disease that has been linked to stroke, dementia, cognitive decline and mortality," Thurston said.

The study controlled for other diseases and conditions that would affect the development of white matter hyperintensities, such as age, hypertension, smoking and diabetes. The study also controlled for emotional disorders, including depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.

The increase in white matter hyperintensities "wasn't explained by these subjective symptoms of distress," Thurston said. "It's almost like your body has a memory that may not be fully manifesting through psychological symptoms. The sexual assault also leaves footprints of the trauma in our brains and our bodies."

Theodore McCarrick, the defrocked former archbishop of Washington, D.C., pleaded not guilty Friday to sexually assaulting 16-year-old Massachusetts boy nearly 50 years ago.

McCarrick, 91, wore a mask and entered Dedham District Court hunched over a walker. “Shame on you!” a protester shouted.

He did not speak during the brief hearing, at which the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, set bail at $5,000, and ordered him to stay away from the victim and have no contact with minors.

McCarrick, the highest-ranking Catholic official in the U.S. to face criminal charges in the clergy sex abuse scandal, is charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.

The alleged abuse happened at a wedding on the campus of Wellesley College, police said. The alleged victim, who is now 60, said that McCarrick was a long-time family friend who molested him for years.

He said he was 16 years old at the wedding reception when McCarrick assaulted him again.

"(He) went into explicit detail about different sexual encounters involving McCarrick including sexual abuse when (he) was older that occurred in hotels," according to the police report.

The accuser went on to describe unwanted touching during their walk around the campus and a forced sexual encounter in a coat room near the reception.

The statute of limitations does not apply because McCarrick is not a resident of Massachusetts.

The alleged victim was not identified but he is represented by attorney Mitchell Garabedian.

“Historically, this is the first time ever in the United States that a Cardinal has been criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minor,” Garabedian said in a statement. “It takes an enormous amount of courage for a sexual abuse victim to report having been sexually abused to investigators and proceed through the criminal process.”

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican investigation found him guilty of sex crimes.

A former Loveland police officer faces more than a dozen counts of sexual assault, prosecutors announced Monday afternoon.

In a news release, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced a grand jury had indicted Anthony Pecord, 48, on eight counts of rape and eight counts of sexual battery.

In Hamilton County court filings, prosecutors said Pecord assaulted an individual on Jan. 24, while he was still a sworn officer with the Loveland Police Department, after “administering an intoxicant to (the victim) surreptitiously.”

Monday's release indicated prosecutors "are concerned that more victims may be out there."

Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (Provided)

WCPO examined Pecord's personnel file after the initial charges were filed and found that the city of Loveland began investigating him the day following the alleged assault. In a Jan. 25 memo to Pecord, police Chief Dennis Rahe put him on paid administrative leave and instructed him to remain available for questioning.

Pecord resigned a month later and turned himself in to authorities less than a week after that, on March 5. A judge held Pecord in the Hamilton County Justice Center on a $1 million bond, where he remained Monday.

Prosecutors asked anyone with information about other potential victims to contact Hamilton County Sheriff's Detective Jack Losekamp at 513-595-7484.

WCPO is showing Pecord's mugshot due to prosecutors' belief that there could be more victims. Read why WCPO is cutting down on its use of mugshots here.

Prior reporting by WCPO 9 News real-time editor Sarah Walsh contributed to this report.

Trevor Bauer was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball on Friday, three days after an allegation of assault was made against the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher.

"MLB's investigation into the allegations made against Trevor Bauer is ongoing," the commissioner's office said in a statement. "While no determination in the case has been made, we have made the decision to place Mr. Bauer on seven-day administrative leave effective immediately. MLB continues to collect information in our ongoing investigation concurrent with the Pasadena Police Department's active criminal investigation."

The placement on leave for seven days is a step under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy adopted by MLB and the players' association in 2015 and can be the initial step leading to a longer suspension. The administrative leave has been extended for players under the policy in the past.

A protection order was obtained under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act and was the result of an “assault that took place at the hands of Mr. Bauer” where the woman “suffered severe physical and emotional pain,” attorney Marc Garelick said this week.

Pasadena police spokesman Lt. Bill Grisafe confirmed that the department is looking into accusations of an assault involving Bauer, but provided no additional details.

Jon Fetterolf, Bauer’s co-agent, disputed the allegations that Bauer committed any nonconsensual violence. He said Bauer met the woman in April, and the two had "a brief and wholly consensual sexual relationship initiated" by the woman.

"Her basis for filing a protection order is nonexistent, fraudulent, and deliberately omits key facts, information, and her own relevant communications," Fetterolf said. "Any allegations that the pair’s encounters were not 100% consensual are baseless, defamatory, and will be refuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Fetterolf said the woman asked Bauer repeatedly for "rough" sexual encounters, demanding to be "choked out" and slapped in the face.

Fetterolf contended Bauer and the woman remained friendly in text messages after their encounters. The attorney said Bauer became concerned and confused after the woman told him she had sought medical care for a concussion days after their second and final encounter.

Bauer and the woman haven’t corresponded for over a month and haven’t seen each other in six weeks, Fetterolf said.

"Our goal is to keep Mr. Bauer from contacting our client in any way possible," Garelick said.

The outspoken Bauer is a 30-year-old right-hander who joined his hometown Dodgers this year with a $102 million, three-year contract after winning his first NL Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds last season. He is 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA and had been scheduled to pitch Sunday.

Players penalized in the past under the domestic violence policy include Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías, Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman and pitcher Domingo Germán, Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, Toronto pitcher Roberto Osuna and Colorado shortstop José Reyes, Atlanta outfielder Hector Olivera.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Police investigators are praising staff at a Florida bar for rescuing a woman who was allegedly being sexually assaulted in a restroom.

According to St. Petersburg police, Jarrod Kennedy Matchett lured the female victim into the bathroom at The Dog Bar St. Pete Sunday afternoon.

Investigators say the man and woman met that day and had been bar-hopping beforehand.

“They went into the restroom together,” said Yolanda Fernandez with the police department. “At that point, things changed.”

WFTS learned the victim used her cell phone to send an urgent message to the bar’s Facebook page while the violent attack was underway.

Management at The Dog Bar shared the message with WFTS. It reads in part, “Help me, please call the police.”

“When I first saw the message, I don’t think I really even stopped to think about what was going on,” said manager Stephanie Marble. “I just felt like I needed to act.”

Marble and a trusted customer immediately went to the restroom area, pounding on every door.

Marble soon rescued the victim, escorting her to a safe space, and called the police.

“Pretty traumatized by the event, still,” said Marble. “I think it’s going to take a little while for it to leave me.”

According to the police report, the victim said, “I don’t give you permission.” She reportedly told officers she did not attempt to fight Matchett, fearful of what might happen due to his level of aggression.

Police arrested Matchett, charging him with sexual battery. Matchett has an extensive criminal history in Pinellas County, but nothing of a violent nature.

Vlad Cruz, a customer in the bar, says he spotted Matchett after the attack and tracked him walking down Central Avenue until police arrived.

“I was able to follow him down the street for a bit just to keep eyes to make sure he didn’t disappear anywhere," Cruz said.

Police are giving credit to both staff and that customer for their swift action Sunday.

“I hope more people take the opportunity to take action or speak out,” said Cruz.

This story was originally published by Ryan Smith at WFTS.

PHILADELPHIA —

Pennsylvania's highest court threw out Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction and released him from prison Wednesday in a stunning reversal of fortune for the comedian once known as "America's Dad," ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor's agreement not to charge Cosby.

Cosby, 83, flashed the V-for-victory sign to a helicopter overhead as he trudged into his suburban Philadelphia home after serving nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence for drugging and violating Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.

The former "Cosby Show" star — the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — had no comment as he arrived, and just smiled and nodded later at a news conference outside, where his lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said: "We are thrilled to have Mr. Cosby home."

"He served three years of an unjust sentence and he did it with dignity and principle," she added.

In a statement, Constand and her lawyers called the ruling disappointing, and they, like many other advocates, expressed fear that it could discourage sexual assault victims from coming forward. "We urge all victims to have their voices heard," they added.

READ THE COURT'S OPINION HERE

Cosby was arrested in 2015, when a district attorney armed with newly unsealed evidence — the comic's damaging deposition in a lawsuit brought by Constand — filed charges against him just days before the 12-year statute of limitations was about to run out.

But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Wednesday that District Attorney Kevin Steele, who made the decision to arrest Cosby, was obligated to stand by his predecessor's promise not to charge Cosby, though there was no evidence that agreement was ever put in writing.

Justice David Wecht, writing for a split court, said Cosby had relied on the previous district attorney's decision not to charge him when the comedian gave his potentially incriminating testimony in Constand's civil case.

The court called Cosby's subsequent arrest "an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was forgone for more than a decade." It said justice and "fair play and decency" require that the district attorney's office stand by the decision of the previous DA.

The justices said that overturning the conviction and barring any further prosecution "is the only remedy that comports with society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system."

Cosby was promptly set free from the state prison in suburban Montgomery County and driven home.

"What we saw today was justice, justice for all Americans," said another Cosby attorney, Andrew Wyatt. "Mr. Cosby's conviction being overturned is for the world and all Americans who are being treated unfairly by the judicial system and some bad officers."

Bonjean said Cosby was "extremely happy to be home" and "looks forward to reuniting with his wife and children." Several supporters outside yelled, "Hey, hey, hey!" — the catchphrase of Cosby's animated Fat Albert character — which brought a smile from him.

He later tweeted an old photo of himself with his fist raised and eyes closed, with the caption: "I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rules of law."

In a statement, Steele, the district attorney, said Cosby went free "on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime." He commended Constand for coming forward and added: "My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims."

"I am furious to hear this news," actor Amber Tamblyn, a founder of Time's Up, an advocacy group for sex-crime victims, said on Twitter. "I personally know women who this man drugged and raped while unconscious. Shame on the court and this decision."

But "Cosby Show" co-star Phylicia Rashad tweeted: "FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!"

Four Supreme Court justices formed the majority that ruled in Cosby's favor, while three others dissented in whole or in part.

Peter Goldberger, a suburban Philadelphia lawyer with an expertise in criminal appeals, said prosecutors could ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for reargument or reconsideration, but it would be a very long shot.

"I can't imagine that with such a lengthy opinion, with a thoughtful concurring opinion and a thoughtful dissenting opinion, that you could honestly say they made a simple mistake that would change their minds if they point it out to them," Goldberger said.

Even though Cosby was charged only with the assault on Constand, the judge at his trial allowed five other accusers to testify that they, too, were similarly victimized by Cosby in the 1980s. Prosecutors called them as witnesses to establish what they said was a pattern of behavior on Cosby's part.

Cosby's lawyers had argued on appeal that the use of the five additional accusers was improper. But the Pennsylvania high court did not weigh in on the question, saying it was moot, given the finding that Cosby should not have been prosecuted in the first place.

In sentencing Cosby, the trial judge had declared him a sexually violent predator who could not be safely allowed out in public and needed to report to authorities for the rest of his life.

In May, Cosby was denied parole after refusing to participate in sex offender programs behind bars. He said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it meant serving the full 10 years.

The groundbreaking Black actor grew up in public housing in Philadelphia and made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry that included the TV shows "I Spy," "The Cosby Show" and "Fat Albert," along with comedy albums and a multitude of television commercials.

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The suburban Philadelphia prosecutor who originally looked into Constand's allegations, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor, considered the case flawed because Constand waited a year to come forward and stayed in contact with Cosby afterward. Castor declined to prosecute and instead encouraged Constand to sue for damages.

Questioned under oath as part of that lawsuit, Cosby said he used to offer quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. He eventually settled with Constand for $3.4 million.

Portions of the deposition later became public at the request of The Associated Press and spelled Cosby's downfall, opening the floodgates on accusations from other women and destroying the comic's good-guy reputation and career. More than 60 women came forward to say Cosby violated them.

The AP does not typically identify sexual assault victims without their permission, which Constand has granted.

Cosby, in the deposition, acknowledged giving quaaludes to a 19-year-old woman before having sex with her at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976. Cosby called the encounter consensual.

On Wednesday, the woman, Therese Serignese, now 64, said the court ruling "takes my breath away."

"I just think it's a miscarriage of justice. This is about procedure. It's not about the truth of the women," she said. Serignese said she took solace in the fact Cosby served nearly three years behind bars: "That's as good as it gets in America" for sex crime victims.