BOSTON, MA (WBZ-AM) — Actor Kevin Spacey faces a felony charge for allegedly sexually assaulting the teenage son of a former Boston television news anchor.
“On December 20, 2018 following a public show cause hearing at Nantucket District Court, Clerk Magistrate Brian Kearney issued a criminal complaint of indecent assault and battery against Kevin S. Fowler, also known as Kevin Spacey,” Cape and Island District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said in a statement Monday to WBZ NewsRadio.
“The incident is alleged to have occurred on or about July 7, 2016 at a local restaurant.”
Spacey will appear for an arraignment at Nantucket District Court on January 7.
Heather Unruh, a former Boston Television Anchor for WCVB-TV, accused Spacey last year of sexually assaulting her 18-year-old son, at a Nantucket restaurant.
Unruh, said that Spacey had provided her son, (who allegedly told Spacey he was 21), with a number of alcoholic beverages before going down his pants and grabbing his genitals.
Coincidentally, a video titled "Let me be Frank,"was posted on the actor's verified Twitter and YouTube accounts on Monday shortly after the charges were announced.
In the 3-minute video, wearing an holiday apron in a dimly lit kitchen, Spacey appears as the character of Francis Underwood, from the Netflix series House of Cards.
It is unclear if what was said in the above video, is in connection with new charge or in relation to the show where his character was killed off after his firing from the show after numerous allegations surfaced.
It was the first time the actor had tweeted in over a year.
Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney representing the Unruh Family released the following statement:
"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.Because of the pending criminal matter I have no further comment."
Quincy, MA based litigation public relations practitioner Aubrey Haznar said this is a new low for Spacey.
Haznar accuses the actor of hiding behind his House of Cards character.
"The timing of Spacey's leaking of this video, is designed to be just in conjunction with the announcing of the criminal charges right before a holiday weekend," Haznar said.
"In the public relations or criminal relations realm, it's okay to have a response standing by...but this is a disgusting use of a TV character to basically blame and ultimately influence future juror mind that Frank Underwood was the bad guy and that Kevin Spacey didn't do it," Haznar said.