Actor Gary Busey allegedly groped three victims at a New Jersey movie convention last weekend, tried to unhook one victim’s bra, and pushed police officers to persuade victims not to report what happened, according to police documents that shed light on the criminal sexual contact charges against him.
New details from criminal affidavits provided to The Philadelphia Inquirer show that Busey, 78, allegedly had inappropriate sexual contact with at least three victims during a photo shoot at the Monster-Mania Convention in Cherry Hill on Aug. 13, groping two victims’ buttocks and putting his face near a third victim’s breasts and trying to unhook the victim’s bra.
Busey allegedly asked one victim “where she got them” after putting his face near the person’s breasts.
After the three victims reported the alleged groping, Busey at first denied to police that he groped anyone before asking detectives to apologize to the victims on his behalf and to persuade them not to file any charges against him, according to the affidavits. Busey also claimed it was possible to accidentally touch people on a certain body part.
Busey was charged with four counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact and a single count of attempted criminal sexual contact. He was also charged with harassment.
A spokesperson for Busey could not be reached for comment Monday. An attorney representing Monster Mania LLC did not immediately return requests for comment.
Late Monday, TMZ posted video of Busey denying that he sexually assaulted the women, and he said “they made up a story.” Busey was seen stopping at a gas station in Southern California when a video reporter asked him to comment on the allegations.
“None of that happened,” Busey told the reporter.
He added, “They made up a story, that I assaulted them, sexually, but I did not.”
He continued: “Nothing happened. It’s all false.”
The reporter also asked him to comment about photos of him sitting on a park bench in Malibu with his pants down, but Busey did not comment about that.
In the TMZ video, the reporter apparently followed Busey to another location and kept asking about the criminal case.
“I have eyewitnesses,” Busey said, that can corroborate his version of events.
In a statement posted to Facebook on Saturday, Monster-Mania said that it was assisting police in investigating the incident and that Busey was removed from the convention and told not to return as soon as management received a complaint from attendees. Convention management also encouraged attendees to file a police report.
“The safety and well-being of all our attendees is of the utmost importance to Monster-Mania, and the company will not tolerate any behavior that could compromise those values,” the convention’s management said in the post.
Busey was one of the many sci-fi and horror film alumni slated to appear at the Monster-Mania convention. He was scheduled to appear and take photos with fans in the Riverside Pavilion area of the Double Tree Hotel, where the convention was held, alongside other actors such as Ralph Macchio, Tom Skerritt and Lance Henriksen.
Multiple outlets reported on a video of Busey sitting on a park bench in Malibu with his pants down reportedly filmed Saturday, the day after he was charged with sex crimes.
The actor, who lives in Malibu, California, has appeared in more than 100 films, including an Oscar-nominated turn in "The Buddy Holly Story," "Lethal Weapon," "Predator 2" and "Point Break." He is known for his often bizarre behavior that some have linked to a serious motorcycle accident in 1988 in which he suffered head injuries. Busey was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.
In 1995, Busey was arrested on drug charges after he took a near-fatal overdose of cocaine at his Malibu home. He has also been arrested twice on charges of spousal abuse. In 2012, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, with reported liabilities of $500,000 to $1 million.
———
(Staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.)
———
