The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein after an Italian model-actress alleged that he raped her at her hotel in 2013.
As NPR’s Mandalit Del Barco reports, “A spokesman for the LAPD says the department is interviewing a ‘potential victim’ of sexual assault by Harvey Weinstein in 2013.”
The allegations of sexual assault are the first reported in Los Angeles. Police in New York and London are investigating allegations that Weinstein sexually assaulted five women in those cities.
The Los Angeles allegations are significant because the case falls within the 10-year statute of limitations for criminal prosecution.
“It could ‘open the door to a prosecution if the evidence exists,’ said defense attorney Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. sex crimes prosecutor. Until now, most of the allegations against Weinstein that could lead to criminal charges concerned incidents that are more than a decade old,” reported the Los Angeles Times.