Harvey Weinstein faces 6 new forcible sexual assault counts in Los Angeles
American film producer Harvey Weinstein has been charged with six new forcible sexual assault counts, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced on Friday (local time).
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Weinstein was charged with six additional forcible sexual assault counts involving two victims stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred more than a decade ago, according to authorities.
The new charges include an incident between September 2004 and September 2005 where Weinstein allegedly raped a woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills.
The sex crime case previously filed against Weinstein was amended to add three felony counts each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, meaning the disgraced movie mogul now faces a total of four counts each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery by restraint and one count of sexual penetration by use of force, involving five victims for crimes that span from 2004 to 2013.
Weinstein, who is currently in prison in New York after being convicted of multiple sex crimes there -- also is accused of raping another woman on two separate occasions in November 2009 and November 2010 at a hotel in Beverly Hills.
"I am thankful to the first women who reported these crimes and whose courage have given strength to others to come forward. The willingness of these latest victims to testify against a powerful man gives us the additional evidence we need to build a compelling criminal case," said District Attorney Jackie Lacey in a statement.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Weinstein was originally charged by the Los Angeles DA in January with sexually assaulting two women during alleged separate incidents in 2013. Then that complaint was amended in April to add a charge that he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at a Beverly Hills hotel in May 2010.
Los Angeles prosecutors are seeking temporary custody of Weinstein from New York, with an extradition hearing set for December 11 in Buffalo, according to authorities.
(ANI)
