7th Heaven actor Stephen Collins has reportedly confessed to molesting three young girls under the age of 13.
The allegations come as TMZ has obtained recorded audio of Collins allegedly talking about an inappropriate incident, in which he molested an 11-year-old New York girl, during a therapy session with his estranged wife Faye Grant.
Collins, 70, is reportedly unaware that he was being recorded during the session, which took place in 2012, where he talks about the victim who was a young relative of his first wife.
“There was one moment of touching where her hand, I put her hand on my penis,” he says on the tape.
He also says he exposed himself to the girl “a couple of times” within the space of three years, when she was 11, 12 and 13, and admits to incidents with another two girls.
The New York Police Department has since begun a criminal investigation, with an official telling TMZ there are “at least three victims” with the nature of the investigation being “inappropriate sexual contact with minors”.
“There is a formal complaint on file and the incident is being investigated by the Manhattan Special Victims Squad,” says the NYPD in a statement.
Two officers from the Special Victims Unit have gone to LA to interview Grant, asking her about the tape and other witnesses.
Meanwhile Collins, who was set to star in Ted 2, has been fired from the film and old episodes of 7th Heaven have been pulled from programming schedules in the US.
He has also resigned from his position on the National Board of the Screen Actors Guild.
Collins, who played the patriarch and pastor on the long-running TV drama, is yet to comment on the investigation.
