TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A woman who said Friday that Bill Cosby had drugged her and sexually assaulted her in 1979 also accused another famous man of attempted sexual assault: sportscaster Marv Albert, who pleaded guilty to assault and battery the day after her surprise testimony against him.
P.J. Masten said in an interview with CNN that she woke up naked and bruised in a bed with Cosby in Chicago after he gave her an alcoholic drink and that she believes she was raped. She discussed the details of her allegations against Cosby in an interview with The Associated Press.
Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, did not immediately return calls and emails requesting comment. Singer has denied some of the recent allegations, while another Cosby attorney has called others “discredited.”
Masten was a surprise witness against Albert in his 1997 trial, testifying that he bit her and tried to force her to perform oral sex in a Dallas hotel room in 1994 while he was wearing women’s panties and a garter. Masten said she escaped by pulling off Albert’s toupee.
Albert was originally charged with assault and sodomy after a longtime lover claimed that he bit and attacked her in a hotel room. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charges.
Albert maintained after the trial that Masten’s accusations were a “complete fabrication.” He said in a November 1997 interview with Barbara Walters on ABC’s “20/20” that he had a hair stylist ready to testify that he was wearing a hair weave that would not have come off.
He said in the TV interview that he did not have a sexual relationship with Masten, who was then a VIP representative for the Hyatt hotel chain.
Representatives for Albert and CNN didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
Masten, 64, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, described herself Friday as the “blond, bombshell ambush witness” against Albert. She said she didn’t want to talk about that case.
“I really don’t want to go into that because it’s not about him,” she said.
She said she knew Cosby from working at Playboy clubs in New Jersey, Los Angeles and Chicago. She said she was instructed at the time not to report the assault because Cosby was Hugh Hefner’s “best friend,” but she decided this week to come forward with her allegations after a woman sued Cosby, alleging that he forced her to perform a sex act at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15.
Since early November, at least 20 women have accused Cosby of sexual assault. Cosby has never been charged with any of the allegations, though one accuser met Friday with Los Angeles police detectives.
“I just want him exposed for the serial druggie rapist that he is. He’s got to be stopped,” Masten said. “I don’t care if he’s 77 years old. He’s got to be stopped.”
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