Cuba Gooding Jr has been accused of sexually assaulting three more women days after he was hit with new charges, bringing his total number of alleged victims to five, according to police sources.
The alleged attacks in Manhattan bars and restaurants date back to 2008 and show a ‘pattern’ of behavior, one official told The New York Post.
The Oscar winner, 51, was was already charged with forcible touching and misdemeanor sexual abuse for allegedly groping a woman’s breast at a nightclub in Manhattan in June.
On October 10 he showed up at court smiling with his attorneys but was hit with a sealed grand jury indictment.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not shared details of the new charges, saying only that he has been ‘indicted on charges included in this docket as well as an additional incident previously uncharged.’
Now three more women are said to have accused the Hollywood star of misconduct.
Cuba Gooding Jr. appears in a courtroom in New York on October 10. The actor is accused of placing his hand on a 29-year-old woman’s breast and squeezing it without her consent
Surveillance footage shows Gooding Jr. stroking his accuser’s leg and appearing to lean over his girlfriend, who was sitting between them, and reaching his hand toward her chest at the Magic Hour Rooftop in Manhattan in June
One claims Gooding grabbed her rear at a bar in 2008. A second says he did the same thing at a restaurant five years later. Details surrounding the third accuser are unclear.
He has not been charged over the three new allegations but police are said to be looking into the claims.
The actor’s lawyer, Mark Heller, confirmed they know about the new allegations but repeated that Gooding has only been charged in two cases.
Gooding Jr has been accused of sexually assaulting three more women days after he was hit with new charges, bringing his total number of alleged victims to five, according to police sources
Of the new indictment was filed on Thursday morning he said: ‘We believe that is the only new allegation joined to the indictment. We believe it is totally incredulous and will not give rise to any conviction at all.
‘It happened in excess of a year ago, and it’s a case the alleged accuser never pressed in that whole time nor did the police press it.
‘She simply came forward when Cuba got arrested, and that was after Cuba declined to be shaken down by her. Because it was not appropriate and not a truthful allegation, Cuba declined to be shaken down.
‘When a high-profile case comes about, very frequently a lot of people come out of the woodwork.’
Heller added: ‘It has been 118 days since Cuba has been arrested, and we have seen the district attorney having compiled hundreds of pages of irrelevant and nonincriminating material.
‘They have conducted in excess of seven interviews. They actually put together 2,500 videos, which, having reviewed them, do not reflect any criminal conduct.
‘Clearly, the district attorney, in my view, has used this as a strategy.’
‘Nobody is convicting him without proof beyond a reasonable doubt,
The star will return to court on October 15th and the indictment will then be made public.
Gooding Jr. showed up at court smiling with his attorneys but was hit with a sealed grand jury indictment. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not shared details of the new charges, saying only that he has been ‘indicted on charges included in this docket as well as an additional incident previously uncharged’
He has not been charged over the three new allegations but police are said to be looking into the claims. The actor’s lawyer, Mark Heller, confirmed they know about the new allegations but repeated that Gooding has only been charged in two cases
Gooding Jr. was arrested in June after the 29-year-old woman, who has not been named, phoned police claiming that he grabbed her breast in front of his girlfriend while he was drunk at the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar in Manhattan.
She alleged that Gooding Jr. groped her in front of his girlfriend, Claudine De Niro, and that he also felt her leg.
He has always denied it, saying that she tried to come on to him and called the police when he rejected her.
His attorneys previously alleged in court documents that the original accuser approached him and his girlfriend when they were sitting at a table in the club and that he asked her to leave them alone.
They also alleged that police were called to the scene that night and after reviewing 45 minutes of footage, found nothing incriminating.
However prosecutors decided to push ahead with the case afterwards.
Surveillance footage of the incident, in which the actor is seen stroking the alleged victim’s thigh and then reaching over towards her chest, is likely to be submitted into evidence.