Stephen Collins will reportedly not be facing child molestation charges, despite taped confessions by him admitting to a number of the crimes he is accused of.
According to a TMZ report yesterday , the 7th Heaven star will avoid all of the charges against him due to the statute of limitations, as reported by law enforcement sources to the publication, since the incidents took place, if at all, a long time ago.
Back at the beginning of October, Stephen Collins became embroiled in the issue after an audiotape emerged of Collins admitting to three separate incidents in which he molested or exposed himself to young girls. The recordings were made by his estranged wife Faye Grant during a 2012 therapy session.
Reportedly, two of the incidents involving minors occurred in New York, and one in Los Angeles.
As soon as the incriminating audio emerged, the NYPD as well as the LAPD opened an investigation into the allegations and spoke to victims of the alleged crimes.
On top of that, the Los Angeles County’s Sheriff’s Department announced last week that it had also opened an investigation into one of the abuse allegations, relating to a 1983 incident in which Stephen Collins allegedly exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl who was his neighbor at the time .
In an official statement released on Wednesday, the department said, “Special Victims Bureau detectives are working with New York Police Department on this case.”
Due to the fact that the alleged incidents took place many decades ago, according to the report, the crimes will go unprosecuted completely.
Even if Collins doesn’t face prosecution at the hands of the law, he will still need to address the abuse allegations in his divorce from Grant, because she “plans to raise the issue because she wants her portion of the assets protected in case one of the victims files suit.”