Cosby will not face charges over woman's claim

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby will not face charges over allegations that he drugged and fondled a Canadian woman at his Philadelphia home last year, a prosecutor says.

Authorities found "insufficient credible and admissible evidence" to support the woman's claims, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said in a statement.

The 31-year-old Pickering, Ont., woman had been an employee at Philadelphia's Temple University and had befriended Cosby, a benefactor of the school.

The woman had told Canadian police last month that Cosby gave her medication to make her feel dizzy then fondled her at his Philadelphia mansion a year ago.

She said when she woke up she found her bra undone and her clothes in disarray.

Cosby has denied the allegations.

Prosecutors noted that the woman waited a year before coming forward with the allegation and had contacted Cosby in the past year.

They said those two factors played a role in their decision not to lay charges.

In a statement, Castor said detectives also reviewed claims by other people that Cosby had "behaved inappropriately" toward them in the past.

They found no instance "where anyone complained to law enforcement of conduct which would constitute a criminal offence," Castor wrote.