Nick Carter, a member of the Backstreet Boys, will not face charges filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office after he was accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman 15 years ago, according to documents released by the DA’s office on Tuesday.
Carter, 38, was accused of assaulting the woman at his apartment in 2003, and since the statute of limitations for the case expired in 2013, no criminal charges will be filed, according to prosecutors.
The DA’s office said further examining evidence in the case “is not warranted” due to the expiration, according to a charge evaluation worksheet. The case had been investigated by the Santa Monica Police Department.
Singer Melissa Schuman, a former member of the girl group Dream, detailed the allegation against Carter in a post on her personal blog late last year. She said she didn’t pursue a criminal case against him because she didn’t have the money or access to legal counsel that he did. She feared being publicly “humiliated” and “accused of being fame hungry” if she came forward, she wrote.
In November of last year, Carter responded by saying he was “shocked and saddened” to hear the accusation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual,” Carter said.
Other details about the case were not revealed in the worksheet released by the DA.