LAPD launches Weinstein probe after new rape allegation

Model-actress says she was assaulted in ’13

LOS ANGELES — An Italian model-actress met with Los Angeles police detectives for more than two hours yestersday morning, providing a detailed account of new allegations that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted her at a hotel in 2013.

She is the sixth woman to accuse Weinstein of rape or forcible sex acts. Los Angeles police Capt. Billy Hayes confirmed that the department has launched an investigation into the matter.

It is the first case related to Weinstein to be reported in Southern California. New York police already have two active sex crime probes and London’s Metropolitan Police is investigating allegations made by three women.

The new allegation could be legally troubling for Weinstein because it falls within the 10year statute of limitations for the crime that existed at the time of the alleged incident, legal experts say.

It could “open the door to a prosecution if the evidence exists,” said defense attorney Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County 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.

Weinstein has “unequivocally denied” allegations of nonconsensual sex, according to his representative, Sallie Hofmeister.

On the latest allegation, she said: “I can’t respond to some anonymous complaint.”

The 38-year-old Italian woman, who has asked not to be named because she is fearful of retaliation and concerned about protecting her children’s privacy, first contacted police Tuesday, through her attorney, David Ring of the law firm Taylor Ring. Two detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division’s rape special section took her statement yesterday.

She told the Los Angeles Times that the incident occurred at Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel after she attended the eighth-annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest in February 2013.