Kevin Spacey charged with sexually assaulting 18-year-old son of former Boston news anchor
- The mother of the alleged victim said the actor caused her son ‘tremendous anger and anxiety’
Actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with indecent assault and battery more than two years after he allegedly groped the son of a former Boston news anchor.
Spacey is to be arraigned January 7 at Nantucket District Court in Massachusetts, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe told The Boston Globe.
The district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Heather Unruh said in November 2017 that the House of Cards actor caused her 18-year-old son “tremendous anger and anxiety” after he grabbed his genitals at a club on Nantucket Island in July 2016.
The former news anchor took the allegations to police and filed a report last year, as her son finally felt comfortable coming forward with his claims after Spacey was accused of similar behaviour by multiple other men.
In a statement, the family’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, praised the young man for his bravery in speaking out.
“The complainant has shown a tremendous amount of courage in coming forward. Let the facts be presented, the relevant law applied and a just and fair verdict rendered,” the statement read. “Because of the pending criminal matter I have no further comment.”
Unruh previously made clear that she would seek justice for her son, and fully intended on putting Spacey, 59, behind bars.
“I want to see Kevin Spacey go to jail,” Unruh said at a news conference at the time. “I want to see Kevin Spacey have the hand of justice come down on him, not just for my son, but for the many others who have yet to speak their truth.”
Los Angeles prosecutors in September failed to file criminal charges against Spacey, claiming that the statute of limitations on two alleged crimes had expired.
The Oscar-winning actor remains under investigation by Scotland Yard for three separate sexual assault allegations.
Meanwhile, Spacey broke a year-long Twitter silence just minutes after news of his arraignment broke with a video titled “Let Me Be Frank” that appeared to feature him in character as his late House of Cards character Frank Underwood.
The three-minute clip – in which a source confirmed that Netflix was not involved – features Spacey washing his hands while wearing a Christmas apron.
“We’re not done, no matter what anyone says. And besides, I know what you want. You want me back,” he says.
“Of course, some believed everything and had just been waiting with bated 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? Only you and I both know that it’s never that simple, not in politics and not in life.”
Though he appears to be in character, Spacey’s script seems to be a thinly veiled reference to the more than a dozen accusations of sexual assault that have seen the Oscar-winning actor go from A-list star to disgraced accused predator.
Spacey was fired from the Netflix drama ahead of its final season following multiple allegations of sexual assault.
