Bill Cosby Charged in PA for 2004 Incident

ELKINS PARK, Pa. (CN) - A crowd jeered at Bill Cosby after the comedian posted $1 million bail at his arraignment Wednesday on an aggravated indecent assault charge.

Neither the 78-year-old actor nor his attorneys had any comment as they piled Cosby into a black SUV flanked by a dual-police escort. People in the crowd shouted "monster" and told Cosby to "be ashamed" of himself.

The 20-page criminal complaint filed this morning in Montgomery County accuses Cosby of an attack in early 2004 that former Temple University employee Andrea Constand has long alleged.

While Constand accuses Cosby of drugging and assaulting her, Cosby has previously described their relationship as consensual.

Cosby had been a trustee at Temple when he met Constand, who worked at the university from December 2001 to March 2004 as director of operations for the women's basketball team.

As described in the new criminal complaint, Constand repeatedly rebuffed Cosby's romantic advances but continued to make "social visits" to the comedian's home in Cheltenham.

On one occasion, Constand allegedly stopped Cosby from unbuttoning her blouse, but "nothing inappropriate occurred during" subsequent visits until Constand agreed to meet Cosby at his home in February 2004, ostensibly to talk about her career plans.

Constand says Cosby gave her three blue pills to "take the edge off," and agreed with her when she asked if they were "herbal."

Cosby then allegedly encouraged Constand to "taste the wine," and her vision began to blur about 20 minutes later.

Prosecutors say the comedian led Constand to the sofa and began fondling her, eventually putting his fingers in her vagina and placing her frozen hand on his erect penis.

Constand left the Philadelphia area the next month and isolated herself for the next year at her parents' home in Canada, according to the complaint.

After finally telling her mother in 2005 about her experience with Cosby, Constand went to the police and brought a civil suit as well.

The prosecutor in Montgomery County at the time, Bruce Castor Jr., declined to prosecute the case, but Cosby quietly settled Constand's civil case.

This past July, the judge who presided over Constand's civil case unsealed startling testimony from Cosby's secret 2005 depositions. The transcript shows Cosby admitting to buying quaaludes to give to women before having sex with them.

New claims regarding old incidents continued to pile up against Cosby, who went on the offensive in recent months, accusing his accusers of defaming him.

The Montgomery County DA's Office said the unsealed deposition, among other new claims, prompted it to reopen Constand's case against Cosby.

District Attonrey Vetri Ferman concluded that there is a 12-year window to prosecute aggravated indecent assault, so the statute of limitations does not shield Cosby.

Constand told prosecutors that, when she confronted Cosby back in 2005 on the telephone, "Cosby agreed with that accusation and repeatedly apologized," according to the complaint.

The complaint comes two months after Constand hit the previous DA, Castor, with a federal complaint for defamation, saying he tanked the 2005 prosecution only to try and capitalize on her ordeal this year to win an election.

Castor has not been the Montgomery County DA since 2008, but he told MSNBC on July 7, 2015, that he is running for his old seat, according to Constand's complaint. Last month, Castor lost the election to prosecutor Kevin Steele.

Constand says Castor is also trying to tank the case Ferman reopened against Cosby by claiming that he granted the comedian immunity back in 2005, since there was a risk he could incriminate himself during the civil litigation.

Castor showed "reckless disregard" for both the truth and Constand's rights by portraying her as someone who had "exaggerated her claims in a lawsuit and was therefore not to be believed," Constand's complaint states.

Constand is represented by Dolores Troiani of Troiani & Gibley in Berwyn and by Bebe Kivitz of Jacobs, Kivitz & Drake

Cosby is represented by John Egan of Egan, Flanagan & Cohen, and by Christopher Tayback and Marshall Searcy III with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles.

Judge Elizabeth McHugh presided over Cosby's 3 p.m. arraignment today.

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