Cuba Gooding Jr. Pleads Guilty to Sex Abuse Count

Cuba Gooding Jr. Surrenders (Credit: YouTube/ CBS New York)

Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday in Manhattan Criminal Court to one count of forcibly touching a woman without consent at a local nightclub in 2018.

The plea deal will allow the Oscar-winning actor to escape jail time, NBC News reported.

“We fully credit and believe all of the survivors in this case and thank all of the women and other witnesses who cooperated with our office during the pendency of our investigation,” prosecutor Coleen Balbert said Wednesday in court.

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Prosecutors had accused the actor pf squeezing a woman’s breast at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge near Times Square, and said he pinched another woman’s butt at Manhattan nightclub TAO on Oct. 24, 2018.

Gooding surrendered to police in June 2019 for the Magic Hour incident. Then in October of that year, prosecutors added additional charges and accused the Jerry Maguire star of repeatedly approaching women in bars, and touching, groping, kissing, and biting them without consent. Citing examples,

In addition to the two New York accusers, the prosecution said 12 other women would testify that the actor groped or touched them in other alleged incidents in New York, California, Texas and New Mexico between 2001 and 2018.

Gooding previously denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts.

On Wednesday his attorney said the actor is “relieved that the DA’s office has finally seen what this case is really about and its true value.”