LAPD Confirms Open Criminal Investigation into Bill Cosby

Douglas Gorenstein/NBC(LOS ANGELES) — The Los Angeles Police Department said Wednesday it will explore any sexual assault accusations against embattled TV star and comedian Bill Cosby, including accusations for which the statute of limitations has expired.

The LAPD’s statement to ABC News that there is an open criminal investigation involving Cosby comes two days after the release of a court filing in which he admitted to giving a Quaalude to a woman he met in Las Vegas before they had sex.

In the court filing, Cosby is quoted as having said in a 2005 deposition that he obtained prescriptions for Quaaludes with the idea that he would give them to women with whom he wanted to have sex. The quote appears in a plaintiff’s motion filed as part of a civil case against Cosby for alleged sexual abuse, which he settled in 2006 for an undisclosed amount.

The Cosby Show star has never been charged criminally in connection with those allegations or other allegations by more than two dozen women who say Cosby drugged or sexually abused them.

Cosby has not commented on the documents.

After the release of the court filings, Walt Disney World officials announced that they would remove a bronze statue of Cosby from the Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida. (The Walt Disney Co., which owns Walt Disney World, is the parent company of ABC News.) Reruns of The Cosby Show have also been pulled from the Bounce TV network.

Also, PAVE (Promoting Awareness/Victim Empowerment), an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault, want Cosby’s Presidential Medal of Freedom revoked. “We are calling for the White House to revoke Bill Cosby’s Medal of Freedom,” Executive Director Angela Rose told ABC Radio. “We think this is an unprecedented action, I don’t think there are any other Medal of Freedoms that have been revoked.”

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday that the White House had not heard about calls from PAVE for Cosby’s medal to be revoked. “I don’t know whether or not it’s legally possible to do so,” he added.

“All of us have a responsibility to step up and to speak out to ensure the safety of people in our community,” Earnest continued. “And this is an issue that the president feels strongly about, and he’s spoken forcefully about it in the past, and that continues to be true to this day.”

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