No Case Against Stephen Collins

Stephen Collins -- a self-proclaimed child molester -- will NOT be prosecuted for either molesting or exposing himself to the 3 victims.

TMZ posted audio of Collins confessing to wife Faye Grant that he molested and/or exposed himself to 3 girls ... ages 11 - 13. And, as we reported ... the NYPD and the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. have open investigations. The LAPD is also looking into the case they closed 2 years ago.

But law enforcement sources in all 3 police departments says... the cases will go nowhere. All 3 cases are decades old, and our sources say prosecution would be barred by the statute of limitations.

The NYPD case is the one with the best argument that the statute hasn't run ...  the victim came forward in 2012 and spoke with NY detectives. But that case involves an incident in the 70s and we're told law enforcement has all but given up on a viable case.

Grant has alleged Collins molested a child while he was shooting "7th Heaven" -- sometime between 1996 and 2007 -- but we're told no such victim has come forward.

Although it looks like Collins will not be prosecuted -- assuming no one else comes forward -- he will still have to deal with the molestation issue in court. His divorce trial is next month, and Grant plans to raise the issue because she wants her portion of the assets protected in case one of the victims files suit. And he plans to raise the issue because he claims she used the audio to extort him.

Culled From TMZ