The actor Gary Busey pleaded guilty this week to one count of criminal sexual contact, admitting that he had touched a woman inappropriately at a horror movie convention in New Jersey three years ago, his lawyer said.
Several women accused Mr. Busey, 81, of misconduct and harassment after the convention, Monster-Mania Con, which took place in August 2022 at a hotel in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb.
A week after the convention, Mr. Busey was charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one count of fourth-degree attempted criminal sexual contact and one count of harassment.
Mr. Busey, who lives in Malibu, Calif., entered his guilty plea via Zoom on Thursday.
“He personally is glad to put this behind him and move on,” Mr. Busey’s lawyer, Blair Zwillman, said on Friday. Mr. Zwillman said “the actual factual allegations more mirrored what is considered a disorderly persons offense in New Jersey.”
Mr. Busey, Mr. Zwillman added, had pleaded guilty to the charge that corresponded to “touching the buttocks of a female over the clothing.” He said that Mr. Busey had faced a maximum sentence of five years’ probation and a $500 fine but that he would plan to ask that he only be fined.
“He is an out-of-state resident, he is elderly, he has got some difficulties, physical and otherwise,” he said, citing what he said was a traumatic brain injury that Mr. Busey had suffered in a 1988 motorcycle accident. “He is not coming back to New Jersey too soon.”
Mr. Busey initially denied the charges. Speaking to a reporter from the celebrity news website TMZ shortly after the charges were filed in 2022, he said that “none of that happened.”
“They made up this story that I assaulted them sexually when I did not,” he said. “Nothing happened. Nothing. It was all false.”
In 2002, a lawyer for the convention’s organizers, Nikitas Moustakas, told reporters that Mr. Busey had been removed from the premises after others at the event complained about him. Mr. Moustakas said the event organizers had encouraged Mr. Busey’s accusers to file police reports.
Mr. Busey earned an Oscar nomination for his starring role as the title character in the 1978 film “The Buddy Holly Story.” His other movie credits include “Lethal Weapon” and “D.C. Cab.”
His career eventually waned as he struggled with substance abuse. In 2008 he appeared on a rehabilitation-themed reality show, “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.” In 2019, he starred in “Only Human,” an Off Broadway musical in which he played the role of God.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
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