'Dukes of Hazzard' star Tom Wopat pleads guilty to inappropriately touching two women
Actor Tom Wopat has pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching two women while rehearsing for his play '42nd Street' at Reagle Theatre in Waltham in Massachusetts. The 66-year-old former 'The Dukes of Hazzard' star was sentenced on Friday (July 20) to a year of probation after he pleaded guilty to two counts of annoying and accosting a member of the opposite sex.
The actor was charged last year in August when one of the women, who was also in the play, claimed that he had indecently grabbed her butt from behind. However, Wopat had reportedly denied the claim. In his defense, he asserted that he had not touched anyone inappropriately, although he did recall a time when one of the women walked by him on the set and he had only touched her hip to let her know that he acknowledged her work.
Wopat admitted that he likes to flirt and be friendly, but has never crossed any boundary with any woman. There was soon another allegation when the 1980s TV sitcom star was accused of indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl on the set of the same play.
He had told the girl, "I’m a creepy old man, you’re really talented and really cute." He allegedly poked her in the stomach and hit her butt with his script.
According to a report in USA Today, a statement from the Middlesex County District Attorney's offices mentioned, "Wopat has been charged with indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 and two counts of accosting and annoying a person of the opposite sex in connection with an alleged assault on a second female cast member that occurred on July 25, 2017."
In August 2017, Wopat had pleaded not guilty and was free on a $1,000 bail in spite of the charges against indecency and police allegedly recovering cocaine from his 1996 Ford Bronco when he was earlier accused of harassing the woman in the cast of '42nd Street'.
The actor received a continuation without a finding for a year after admitting to several facts on the charge of cocaine possession. The drug was reportedly found in a plastic bag in his front pocket when police arrested him. The police also found several bags of cocaine inside his vehicle.
He was however put out of the production following his August charges, during which time, Robert Eagle, executive producer of the Reagle Music Theatre, has said: "We want to state unequivocally that sexual harassment — or harassment of any kind, is not tolerated at Reagle Music Theatre."
