Cuba Gooding Jr. will avoid jail time in the forcible touching case against him in New York City, prosecutors said Thursday.
The Jerry Maguire star completed six months of alcohol abuse treatment and behavior modification therapy allowing him to withdraw his previous misdemeanor plea and instead plead guilty to a noncriminal violation.
Prosecutor Coleen Balbert told the court she’s received “positive reports for the last six months” from Gooding’s therapist, the Associated Press reported.
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Gooding, 54, will face no additional penalties and will not have a criminal record.
The Oscar-winning actor pleaded guilty in April to one count of forcibly touching a woman without consent at a New York nightclub in 2018.
Prosecutors accused him of squeezing a woman’s breast at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge near Times Square, and said he pinched another woman’s buttocks at Manhattan nightclub TAO on Oct. 24, 2018.
The NYPD’s Special Victims Division investigated the case and Gooding surrendered to authorities in 2019.
Gooding initially denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts. In April, he changed course and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge that he forcibly kissed a woman in 2018.
In addition to the two New York accusers, the prosecution said 12 other women were ready to testify that the actor groped or touched them in other alleged incidents in New York, California, Texas and New Mexico between 2001 and 2018.
Some of the actor’s accusers have said they plan to pursue civil lawsuits in the case.
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