The Los Angeles County district attorney has declined to file sexual assault charges against Leslie Moonves, the embattled chairman and chief executive of CBS Corp., saying accusations made against him date back three decades and therefore exceed the statute of limitations.
An unidentified woman reported the allegations last year to the Los Angeles Police Department. She had accused the network chief of sexual assault, assault and battery, and exposing himself, prosecutors said Tuesday. The woman alleged one of the incidents occurred in July 1986 and the other two on Jan. 1, 1988, according to the records.
"Victim encountered suspect through her employment in the television industry. Victim has reported multiple incidents of assault by the suspect," prosecutors wrote in an official declination of charges, which was signed by Deputy District Attorney Darci Purvis. "Victim disclosed the second two incidents to a friend approximately a year before making report to law enforcement."
Detectives had forwarded their investigation to the district attorney's office in December and prosecutors declined to file charges in February, said Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorney's office.
The disclosure follows publication of a New Yorker article last week, in which six women had accused Moonves of sexually harassing them and said their careers suffered after they rebuffed his advances. The incidents were alleged to have occurred in the 1980s, '90s and 2006.
On Monday, the company's board of directors took the extraordinary step of launching an independent investigation into the allegations.
The board stopped short of suspending Moonves while the review is ongoing, a move that could pave the way for an eventual settlement with the longtime executive.
It was unclear Tuesday whether the woman who spoke with LAPD investigators was among the women featured in the New Yorker article.
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