Kevin Spacey Charged with Sex Assault for Allegedly Rubbing Teen's Genitals in Bar

The accuser alleged to police "he tried to shift his body and move Spacey's hands away with his hands, but Spacey kept reaching down his pants," a criminal complaint states

Photo: Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage

Actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with felony sexual assault from an alleged 2016 incident in a Massachusetts bar involving an 18-year-old bus boy, PEOPLE confirms.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE, Spacey, 59, will be arraigned on Jan. 7 in Nantucket District Court on a charge of indecent assault and battery.

The charge comes more than a year after former Boston TV news anchor Heather Unruh publicly accused Spacey of assaulting her then 18-year-old son at a bar in July 2016. The alleged incident — at the Club Car, a bar in Nantucket — is the basis for the current charges.

Unruh said her son told Spacey was of legal drinking age and became intoxicated as the actor bought him drinks. Soon thereafter, Unruh alleged that Spacey stuck his hand inside her son’s pants and grabbed his genitals.

She described her son as a “starstruck, 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.”

According to the criminal complaint, the accuser finished his shift at the bar and was invited to sit with Spacey and his manager. He told Spacey he was 23 and was studying business, and Spacey said his manager could get him a job, the complaint states.

The accuser and Spacey drank together for over an hour, according to the accuser’s account in the complaint. During this time, Spacey allegedly asked the accuser about the size of his genitals and boasted about his own.

Then, while the pair stood at a crowded bar, Spacey allegedly unzipped the accuser’s pants and began rubbing his genitals for about three minutes, the complaint states.

“[The alleged victim] tried to shift his body and move Spacey’s hands away with his hands, but Spacey kept reaching down his pants,” the complaint alleges.

The accuser “didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to get in trouble at work or get his work in trouble” because he was only 18, the complaint states.

The complaint alleges that the accuser subsequently spoke with a woman who saw he was in distress and he told her Spacey was trying to rape him.

After news broke about the charges, the alleged victim’s attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, issued a statement to PEOPLE saying, “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.”

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It was not immediately clear if Spacey has retained an attorney in this case. Reps for him did not return PEOPLE’s request for comment.

On Monday, Spacey released a YouTube video seemingly in the character of Frank Underwood, whom he played on the hit show House of Cards. In the video, The titled “Let Me Be Frank,” Spacey criticizes the #MeToo movement in a monologue.

“Conclusions can be so deceiving,” he says. “Miss me?”

Last October, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making inappropriate sexual advances when Rapp was just 14. Since then, several more actors have told stories about the two-time Academy Award winner harassing or assaulting them. In April, one sexual assault case against the star, which reportedly took place in October of 1992 in West Hollywood and involved an adult male, was turned over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for further review.

In July, three more people reportedly came forward, accusing Spacey of sexual assault in England, and in August, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office received a new sexual assault case involving the Oscar winner, reps from the office confirmed to PEOPLE at the time.

In September, an unidentified man sued Spacey for sexual battery in an alleged incident that took place in Spacey’s Malibu home, seeking unspecified damages.

In November 2017, Spacey entered a treatment facility.