Andy Dick Avoids Jail In Latest Groping Case

LOS ANGELES, CA — Comedian Andy Dick pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges of groping a woman in Studio City last year.

Convicted of misdemeanor charges of battery and lewd conduct, he was given the option of serving a month in jail or doing community service. He could choose between 15 days of community labor or 150 hours of community service, according to officials with the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. He will also be on probation for three years. But the arrangement means he won't have to register as a sex offender if he meets the terms of his probation. A misdemeanor count of sexual battery was dropped as part of the plea agreement.

Dick was charged last summer after he was accused of groping the buttocks of a complete stranger and making lewd comments to her as she walked past him.

It's not the first time Dick has faced these allegations. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery for a 2008 incident in Murrieta in which he pulled down a teenage girl's shirt and bra exposing her breasts. He's also been arrested and accused of indecent exposure on and off the stage.

At the time of the latest allegations, Dick denied them.

"I don't grope people anymore. I don't expose myself anymore," Dick told The Hollywood Reporter. "I do understand that the temperature in the world right now is delicate."

Dick was fired from the independent film "Raising Buchanan" last year after co-workers accused him of groping, licking and sexually propositioning them, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.