Kevin Spacey Emerges from Hiding in Wake of Sexual Assault Charges

Kevin Spacey has resurfaced after nearly a year of living outside the public eye ... as various sexual assault allegations continue to dog him.

The actor was hanging on a balcony with his dog, somewhere on the East Coast.

Spacey was spotted for the first time on Friday ... shrouded in a face cover as he jumped in a waiting SUV.

Spacey's re-emergence doesn't seem uncoincidental to events this week, in which Massachusetts prosecutors filed sexual assault charges against the actor for allegedly forcing himself on an 18-year-old at the Club Car bar in Nantucket.

Spacey has been charged with a felony which carries a maximum 5-year prison sentence. His lawyers went to court trying unsuccessfully to fight the filing of the charge, calling an investigator on the case to the witness stand, who conceded the alleged victim never told Spacey to stop.

The investigator also said the video the young man sent to his girlfriend during the incident did not show groping in the genital area.

There are other allegations against Spacey, who was fired from his "House of Cards" gig after the various stories of sexual misconduct surfaced.