The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a new rape allegation against Harvey Weinstein, The Los Angeles Times reports.
A 38-year-old woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, met with police for over two hours this morning to provide an account of being raped at a hotel in 2013.
Los Angeles police Captain Billy Hayes confirmed to the Times that the department has launched an investigation. Criminal investigations against Weinstein are also underway in New York City and London.
Most allegations against Weinstein can't be prosecuted due to the amount of time that has passed, but this new report falls within the crime's 10-year statute of limitations.
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According to the alleged victim, the rape occurred at Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel after the 8th Annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest. She says they spoke briefly at the film festival and later Weinstein showed up "without warning" at her hotel. After she turned down his request to come up to her room, the woman says he began knocking on her door.
"He...bullied his way into my hotel room, saying, 'I’m not going to [have sex with] you, I just want to talk,'" the woman told The Los Angeles Times. "Once inside, he asked me questions about myself, but soon became very aggressive and demanding and kept asking to see me naked."
She says she showed Weinstein photos of her children and cried as she begged him to leave. "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."
Before Weinstein left the room, she says he told her she was beautiful and could work in Hollywood.
"He acted like nothing happened," the woman said. "I barely knew this man. It was the most demeaning thing ever done to me by far. It sickens me still…He made me feel like an object, like nothing, with all his power."
The mother of three says that she was afraid to go to the police after the incident, but confided in a priest, a friend, and a nanny.