Harvey Weinstein Has Been Charged In Los Angeles For Rape And Sexual Assault

Weinstein was charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, and sexual battery by restraint.

Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was indicted Monday for raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in Los Angeles, the same day his sex assault trial kicked off in New York City.

Los Angeles prosecutors charged Weinstein in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013.

Weinstein was charged with one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, and sexual battery by restraint.

“We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. “I want to commend the victims who have come forward and bravely recounted what happened to them. It is my hope that all victims of sexual violence find strength and healing as they move forward.”

On Feb. 18, 2013, Weinstein allegedly went to a hotel and raped a woman after pushing his way inside her room. According to court documents, the woman said Weinstein entered her room after they attended a film festival. They spoke briefly, and then he allegedly forced her to orally copulate him and raped her.

The next evening, prosecutors say Weinstein sexually assaulted another woman at a hotel suite in Beverly Hills. That woman said she agreed to attend a meeting with Weinstein and another female acquaintance at a hotel restaurant, after which Weinstein asked the two women back to his suite.

The woman followed him into his hotel bathroom and said the other acquaintance shut the door behind her, leaving her unable to open the door. Weinstein allegedly then took off his clothes, showered, stood between the woman and the bathroom door so that she couldn’t leave, “turned her around and held her in place by her breast as he masturbated until he ejaculated on the floor,” court documents state. Only after Weinstein finished did he let the woman leave the bathroom, prosecutors said.

Lacey said neither of the two women have come out publicly before, and one of them is expected to testify in New York.

“Once his case is completed in New York, we expect him to appear in a court room in LA county to face these charges,” Lacey said at a news conference.

Since 2017, Beverly Hills Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli said several women have come forward to file allegations against Weinstein.

An attorney for one woman told reporters in 2017 that his 38-year-old client had been assaulted in February 2013 at the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel after she attended the 8th Annual Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest.

It was there that Weinstein "bullied his way up into her room," the woman's attorney, David Ring, said.

Ring did not elaborate on what allegedly happened next, but in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the woman said Weinstein kept asking to see her naked.

"He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to do something I did not want to do," she said. "He then dragged me to the bathroom and forcibly raped me."

Lacey announced the new charges after her office reviewed eight cases of alleged sexual battery or assault against Weinstein. Four of those cases were investigated by Los Angeles police, the others by police in Beverly Hills.

The charges stem from a task force Lacey formed in 2017 to review sexual abuse allegations against high-profile entertainment figures.

Weinstein already faces five felony charges in New York based on claims by two women, one of whom remains anonymous. Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Prosecutors, though, plan to call more accusers to the stand to establish a pattern of predatory behavior. One of those witnesses is expected to be The Sopranos actor Annabella Sciorra, who said Weinstein raped her inside her Manhattan apartment in 1993.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and his defense team is expected to try and undermine the women's testimony. His attorneys have also long denied that any nonconsensual sex occurred.

The former heavyweight film producer became inextricably tethered to the #MeToo movement after the New York Times and The New Yorker published reports detailing the stories women who said he had sexually assaulted or harassed them. More than 80 women in all have since come forward, although many of their allegations fall outside the statute of limitations.

Los Angeles prosecutors are recommending bail be set at $5 million. If convicted of all charges, Weinstein faces up to 28 years in state prison.


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