After a torrent of lurid allegations, Bill Cosby has been charged with the sexual assault of a young woman 12 years ago.
The Pennsylvania criminal case concerns a former employee of Temple University who told police in 2005 that Cosby had made an unwanted sexual advance after drugging her with pills. Cosby will be arraigned in court on a single charge of aggravated indecent assault which carries a penalty of 5 to 10 years in prison if convicted.
The former district attorney declined to charge Cosby when the young woman first brought the allegations in 2005. The criminal statute of limitations in Pennsylvania is 12 years.
The same woman filed and later settled a civil sexual abuse lawsuit against Cosby. Earlier this year, the Associated Press petitioned the court to unseal the documents from the civil proceeding. The court complied and the documents revealed that Cosby had admitted to using pills in order to allegedly sexually assault numerous women.