Three more women say Bill Cosby drugged, sexually assaulted them

[April 24, 2015] By Dana Feldman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three more women on Thursday accused Bill Cosby of sexually abusing them decades ago, as the veteran comedian gets ready for the final show in his U.S. comedy tour.

Janice Baker Kinney, Marcella Tate and Autumn Burns said at a press conference hosted by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred that Cosby, 77, drugged and sexually assaulted them in separate incidents between 1970 and 1982.

They join more than three dozen women, many of whom are represented by Allred, who have made similar accusations in public over the past year.

Kinney said she met Cosby with a friend in May 1982, when she was 24, while working at Harrah's in Reno, Nevada. She said she visited Cosby's residence with her friend, where he gave her some pills. She said she later woke up naked, in bed with the comedian, and he told her to keep their encounter to themselves.

"I was mortified at what had happened," Kinney said. "All this time, and for many, many years, I felt that this was my fault."

Cosby, best known for his "America's Dad" character Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the top-rated "Cosby Show," has never been charged over any of the allegations. He settled a 2005 civil lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct.

Representatives for Cosby did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Cosby's attorney Marty Singer has previously dismissed similar allegations made by other women as "discredited" and "defamatory."

Burns said she met Cosby in 1970 at a Las Vegas casino in which she worked when she was 20 years old.

She said she was invited to his suite where he made her a drink, after which she felt "woozy and not in control." She said the comedian then forced her into sex acts.

Tate said she met Cosby in Chicago in 1975, when she was a 27-year-old model. She said he asked her to take him to the Playboy Mansion, where he offered her a drink that left her feeling drugged.

The allegations have led to cancellations of a number of stops on his live "Far From Finished" comedy tour.

Allred said her Thursday conference was held purposely held before Cosby's May 2 Atlanta show.

"I hope that the public will not buy tickets to his performance and that there will be many empty seats by the end of his performance," Allred said.

(Writing by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Mary Milliken)

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