...why isn't the Department of Justice bringing a federal criminal case against Cosby for serial rape? He is being accused of raping dozens of women in several states. There is no statute of limitations on sex abuse cases in federal court, so every one of these women could have their claims heard in one suit. Furthermore, the allegations fall under the definition of sex abuse for federal purposes. The statute in title 18 of the U.S. Code, section 109A reads, in part, that whoever "causes another person to engage in a sexual act by threatening or placing that other person in fear ....or engages in a sexual act with another person if that other person is ...physically incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in, that sexual act; or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for any term of years or for life." The minimum sentence is typically twenty years to life for federal sex abuse crimes