House of Cards actor Kevin Spacey has pleaded not guilty to the charges of sexual assault brought against him in court yesterday. In his first court appearance in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Spacey was silent during the arraignment which lasted fifteen minutes.

While a number of very serious allegations of sexual assault have been laid against Spacey, this particular arraignment was in response to a 2016 incident in which he allegedly groped an 18 year-old man by forcefully putting his hands down the man’s trousers. Spacey’s lawyers pleaded not guilty to the charge of battery and felony indecent assault on the actor’s behalf.

A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for March 4 of this year. If convicted, Spacey could face up to five years in prison as well as being registered as a sex offender. In the meantime, Judge Thomas S Barrett ordered Spacey not to contact the alleged victim or his family.

According to the victim’s complaint, Spacey groped the 18 year-old for about three minutes. The young man who was working as a busboy at the time. Mitchell Garabedian, the man’s civil attorney spoke on his behalf in the court:

“By reporting the sexual assault, my client is a determined and encouraging voice for those victims not yet ready to report being sexually assaulted. My client is leading by example.”

Allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against Kevin Spacey initially emerged in 2017. Actor Anthony Rapp claimed that Spacey sexually advanced on him when he was just 14 years-old. Spacey would have been 26.

The actor responded to Rapp’s statement on Twitter:

“I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”

Rapp’s allegation is one of 30 reports of sexual assault laid against Kevin Spacey. When numerous men’s stories about Spacey emerged, House of Cards terminated their dealings with the actor by killing his character off on the show.