The Los Angeles District Attorney Is Creating a Hollywood Task Force to Investigate Alleged Sexual Assault
There has been a growing movement within Hollywood to expose the rampant sexual abuse that appears to have been bubbling underneath the surface of Tinseltown for decades. With allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein finally breaking open the floodgates, it seems that almost every day, a new (male) celebrity gets accused of a heinous act.
In light of the steady stream of accusations, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced late last week that the office of the DA will be partnering with the LAPD to create a task force whose goal is to investigate this insidious side of Hollywood.
“In response to the widespread allegations of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, I have established a task force of specially trained deputy district attorneys who are ready to evaluate these cases if any are referred to my office for criminal prosecution,” Lacey said during the announcement of the task force.
Currently, the LAPD has open files against Weinstein, producer James Toback, and Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick, and are investigating accusations of pedophilia in Hollywood put forward by former child star Corey Feldman. With these and many more accusations against major figures in the film and TV industry, DA Lacey doesn’t want to ignore the enormity of the situation.
The overall goal of the task force, Lacey said, was to create “a uniformed approach to the legal review and possible prosecution of any case that meets both the legal and factual standards for criminal prosecution.”
While police may have ongoing investigations, Lacey also said that at this time, the DA’s office does not have an open file on any of the accused. As recently as last week, however, the LAPD has received new reports, including one from actor Terry Crews, who came forward a few months ago to talk about an assault that allegedly happened to him in 2016 at a Hollywood party.
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(Photo via Jeff Spicer/Getty)