In a lengthy statement, Stephen Collins opened up to People about his child molestation scandal and confessed to sexually abusing three underage girls. The actor admitted to abusing the girls in an audio released earlier this year, but he has remained tight-lipped about it until now.
Stephen Collins will not be prosecuted for child molestation or exposing himself to a minor because the statute of limitations prevents prosecutors from pursuing the cases.
According to TMZ, the NYPD, L.A County Sheriff’s Department and LAPD have all said that the decade old incidents will likely not lead to criminal prosecution against the him.
The 67-year-old actor allegedly confessed to the crimes to his wife Faye Grant in an audio released earlier this month, leading law enforcement officials to open investigations. Faye also claims that Collins molested a child more recently while filming “7th Heaven” but no victim has come forward to corroborate the allegation.
On Wednesday, ABC announced that Stephen Collins has been fired from hit show “Scandal” amid his child molestation scandal.
The actor, who played a news anchor named Reed Wallace in “Scandal” Season 2, was set to reprise the role in Season 4 but will no longer appear on the show. Last month he tweeted:
“Happy to say I did another episode of #Scandal. Had a gr8 time. Wish I could say more but @ShondaRhimes would have to kill me.”
Collins, who was also fired from Ted 2 this week, has resigned from the Screen Actors Guild national board.
"7th Heaven" has been pulled from multiple networks amid Stephen Collins' child molestation scandal. A spokesperson for TVGuide Network told BuzzFeed News that it has removed two episodes of the show from its schedule.
UP TV President Charley Humbard also said in a statement on Tuesday that the show has been removed from its line-up.
"As a top family-friendly network, we are deeply concerned for the families that are potentially affected by these disturbing allegations surrounding actor Stephen Collins," Humbard said. "'7th Heaven' has been a beloved family show and a fan-favorite on our network. We have made the decision to remove the series from our schedule effective at 5 P.M. ET today. Replacing '7th Heaven' tonight will be 'Supernanny', a series dedicated to bringing families together. We will continue to monitor the situation and listen carefully to our viewers."
Collins, who play Reverend Eric Camden in "7th Heaven", is being investigated by NYPD after TMZ published an audiotape taken during a therapy session with then wife Faye Grant, in which Collins admitted he had molested underage girls.
On Tuesday, Stephen Collins’ lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, claimed that Faye released the tape to the media just to squeeze more money out of his client on the eve of their divorce case. In her divorce papers, Faye called Collins a pedophile with a “long term pattern of sexually molesting children”
In the statement, Kaplan said:
“Over the course of my representation of Stephen in the divorce case, Faye has repeatedly threatened to give this audiotape to the media unless Stephen agreed to pay her millions of dollars more than that to which she was legally entitled.”
“When these demands were rebuffed, Faye attempted, without success, to peddle the tape in numerous ways to numerous different people. It appears that she has finally found an audience for this tape. Not surprisingly, on the eve of the trial in the divorce case where, again, she is seeking millions of dollars more than that to which she is legally entitled.”
However, Grant has denied releasing the tape, saying:
"I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to the authorities in 2012 per their request in connection with a criminal investigation was recently disseminated to the press. I had no involvement whatsoever with the release of the tape to the media."
Meanwhile, Collins has been fired from upcoming film "Ted 2". Reps for the film confirmed he has been fired, but declined to comment beyond that.
