counts of sexual abuse and assault
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Eric Weinberg, a co-executive producer and writer for the 2000s TV comedy_scrubs_ was arrested again on Tuesday and charged with 18 counts of sexualabuse and assault by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The judgment was made days after charges — including rape, oral copulation,sexual battery, false imprisonment, assault by means to cause great bodilyharm and six counts of forcible penetration by a foreign object — were filed.He was taken into custody Tuesday at 2:30 pm and he was released after posting$5 million bail by midnight.
District George Gascon is expected to hold a pressconference laterthis afternoon to detail the charges against Weinberg, who also was a produceron Showtime’s California and FXs Anger Management.
Weinberg was initially arrested in July over charges including rape, allegedlycommitted between 2012 and 2019. He was released after posting $3,225,000bail.
Eric Weinberg was arrested again on Tuesday and faces 18 sexual abuse andassault charges. (Photo: LAPD)
At that time, Los Angeles Police Department investigators said Weinbergappeared to have targeted women in their 20s and 30s in grocery stores, coffeeshops and other public places claiming to be a photographer. He allegedly setup photoshoots with them at his residence where he “would sexually assaultthem.” Authorities sought additional unidentified victims — as far back as theearly ’90s — urging them to come forward.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to some of his accusers for a story that ran onSept. 1. More than two dozen women alleged a pattern of predatory behavior andmisconduct going back decades. Some of the allegations, as early as 2000 whenhe worked on scrubs included claims of inappropriate conduct involvingminors.
Many of the women said Weinberg, who received five Emmy nominations for hiswork on scrubs and Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher , used hisHollywood resume to establish credibility and then pressured them duringshoots into taking off their clothing. Multiple women alleged nonconsensualsexual activity and claimed he frequently photographed them during it.
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Weinberg previously avoided similar charges. He was arrested in 2014 when then22-year-old Kayra Raecke alleged to LAPD that he had raped her during aphotoshoot at his home. Raecke claimed Weinberg choked her with one hand andtook photos with the other. She told authorities she thought she may dieduring the alleged assault. The deputy district attorney at the time declinedto prosecute, citing “insufficient evidence.”
In 2016, law enforcement recommended charges against Weinberg for a differentalleged nonconsensual sexual encounter with an unidentified woman. Again, thedistrict attorney declined to charge because there was “no evidence that thedefendant used force, threats or intimidation.”
The Hollywood Reporter ‘s story said Weinberg kept records of hisencounters. In 2008, his then-wife Hilary Bidwell, allegedly found nudephotographs and papers with names and numbers of hundreds of women, many ofthem accompanied by locations — like grocery store, library, gym — where theymet. He said they were from past headshot shoots he would do. They separatedagain after Raecke’s allegation but didn’t formally divorce. Then in 2020, shestarted proceedings after a women reached out to her alleging Weinberg wasinappropriate with her minor daughter.
That drove Bidwell to hire a private investigation firm to see if there wereother accusers. She discovered a Facebook post by artist Claire Wilsoncautioning women against Weinberg, whom she accused of sexually assaulting herafter they met on OKCupid. Other women commented recounting their own allegedencounters with Weinberg. Several accusers have since banded together andretained an attorney.
Weinberg denied the allegations, previously releasing a statement to _THR_through his divorce lawyer, saying they vote from his bitter divorce.
“As we have unfortunately seen these days, time and again, a heavily litigatedand acrimonious custody dispute has now given rise to strategically placedcriminal allegations,” he said. “These claims have previously beeninvestigated and reviewed by both law enforcement and the Los Angeles familycourt and the results wholly undermine the narrative now being promulgated.Thought Mr. Weinberg himself is precluded from commenting on any aspect ofthis litigation due to court orders, family law rules and in the bestinterests of his minor children, he will continue through counsel to cooperatein all aspects of this investigation and, if necessary, will address theseallegations in the only forum that should matter — a public courtroom.”