Kevin Spacey facing felony sexual assault charges in alleged incident with teen

Rachel Kleinman

It’s been over a year since former Boston news anchor Heather Unruh called out actor Kevin Spacey in a press conference, alleging that he had allegedly sexually assaulted her teenage son in a Nantucket bar in July 2016. Now comes the announcement that Spacey, known for his work in American Beauty and House of Cards (the latter of which dropped Spacey not long after Unruh’s press conference) will be arraigned on the felony charge of indecent assault and battery on Jan. 7.

If convicted in the state of Massachusetts, Spacey could face up to five years in prison and would have to register as a sex offender.

“I have wanted to say something for a very long time, especially moments like when Kevin Spacey has the honor of hosting something like the Tony Awards and is celebrated as a man and an actor,” Unruh had said at her Nov. 2017 press conference, for which she was joined by her daughter, Kyla, and lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian. Her son was not present.

According to Unruh, her then-18-year-old son was “star-struck” when he saw Spacey at the Club Car restaurant in 2016, telling him that he was old enough to drink. That allegedly lead to Spacey to ply the teen with alcohol until he was drunk and then put his hand down the teen’s pants, grabbing his genitals. The young man reportedly was able to escape the situation when Spacey went to use the bathroom, and a woman told him to run.

Unruh’s son told his sister and then called his mother, and reported the incident to Nantucket police in the fall of 2017.

“The victim, my son, was a star-struck, straight, 18-year-old young man who had no idea that the famous actor was an alleged sexual predator or that he was about to become his next victim,” Unruh had said at the press conference.

Related: #MeToo and #TimesUp movements:

Also last year, Spacey was accused by actor Anthony Rapp of sexual misconduct that occurred when Rapp was 14 years old. Since then, multiple other men have come forward with accusations against Spacey.

Unruh, speaking directly to Spacey, had said, “Shame on you for what you did to my son. And shame on you for using your apology to Anthony Rapp to come out as a gay man. That was an appalling attempt to deflect attention away from what you really are — a sexual predator. Your actions are criminal.”

Spacey, who was dropped by his agent and publicist, as well as being fired from his hit Netflix show and removed from the film All the Money in the World, is “seeking evaluation and treatment.”

On Monday, shortly after news of the upcoming arraignment broke, Spacey tweeted a video with the caption, “Let Me Be Frank,” where he appeared as his House of Cards character Frank Underwood. In the video, Spacey says, “I can promise you this: if I didn’t pay the price for the things we both know I did do, I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the things I didn’t do.”

Advertisement