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Bill Cosby Won't Be Charged Over 1974 Molestation Claim

Citing the statute of limitations, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says it won't pursue child sexual abuse charges against comedian Bill Cosby, who has been the subject of numerous allegations made by more than a dozen women.

Prosecutors "noted the statute of limitations at the time of the alleged incident was three years," The Los Angeles Times says.

The decision about Judy Huth's allegation comes less than two weeks after she met with Los Angeles police to discuss her claims that Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old.

Huth has also filed a civil lawsuit, leading Cosby's attorney, Martin Singer, to respond that her claims are "absolutely false." Singer also accused Huth of filing the lawsuit "immediately after Mr. Cosby rejected plaintiff's outrageous demand for money in order not to make her allegations public," Variety reported.

As we reported on Friday:

"The allegations against Cosby began after a column in the Washington Post by Barbara Bowman, who said the comedian drugged and raped her in 1985, when she was 17. In an interview with NPR last month, Cosby declined to comment on the allegations."

Since that very public claim was made, several other women have stepped forward with allegations against Cosby. On Friday, the list of accusers grew to include former supermodel Beverly Johnson.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.