25 September 2018•Update: 25 September 2018
By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON
Comedian icon Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars Tuesday after being convicted of drugging and molesting a woman.
Cosby, 81, was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault, in which he drugged and then molested Andrea Constand, an administrator at Temple University women's basketball team, at his Philadelphia home.
He was also denied bail and fined $25,000.
On top of all the charges, Cosby was also designated a sexual predator, for which he must register with the police, and notify any community he plans to live in, as well as nearby schools, of his designation.
"Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy, young sprit and crushed it. He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself and others," Constand said in a statement to the court.
After Constand, 60, women came forward to accuse Cosby of drugging and then sexually assaulting them.
The sentencing completed the actor and comedian's fall from grace, who once was beloved for his roles on television shows.
Cosby broke many racial barriers, and was the first black actor to be starred in a network television show, "I, Spy".
He is best known for his role as Cliff Huxtable in the sitcom "The Cosby Show", which showed viewers a successful Black family living in New York.
Cosby later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President George W. Bush in 2002.
"The Cosby Show" was pulled from broadcasting in 2014 after allegations against him began to appear.
"We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over," Constrand said.
