Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday to forcibly touching a woman at a nightclub in 2018.
The plea deal comes nearly three years after Oscar-winning star Jerry Maguire was arrested in the case, which suffered several delays as his attorneys tried to have the charges reduced or dismissed.
In pleading guilty, the actor told the judge that he "kissed the waitress on the lips" without her consent at the LAVO club in New York.
Although Gooding, 54, is accused of molesting three women at different Manhattan nightclubs in 2018 and 2019, he only pleaded guilty to one of the charges.
Gooding's plea agreement states that
he will not be jailed
, but will have to undergo six months of therapy in order to withdraw his misdemeanor plea and plead guilty to misdemeanor stalking.
Cuba Gooding Jr. during a court hearing on January 22, 2020. Alec Tabak / AP
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a 29-year-old woman told police the actor touched her breasts without her consent at the Magic Hour Rooftop bar near Times Square.
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A few months later, Gooding was charged with two additional cases as more women decided to report him for abuse.
The new charges accused him of touching a waitress's butt and making a sexual comment at TAO Downtown and forcibly and inappropriately touching a woman at LAVO nightclub, both in 2018.
Cuba Gooding Jr. accused of raping a woman in 2013
Aug. 19, 202001:53
Gooding previously pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor charges and
denied all allegations of misconduct
.
His lawyers have argued that prosecutors, fueled by the fervor of the #MeToo movement, were trying to turn "common gestures" or mix-ups into crimes.
[People were furious at Cuba Gooding Jr. for lifting Sarah Paulson's skirt in public]
The judge had ruled that if Gooding's case went to trial, prosecutors would have had to call two additional women to testify about their abuse allegations against Gooding.
Those women, whose complaints did not lead to criminal charges, were among 19 other accusers prosecutors sought to call as witnesses.
Gooding is also accused of raping a woman in New York in 2013. An attorney who is fighting those accusations.