LAPD’S SICKO CELEB SQUAD

New unit tackles H’wood pervnado

The Los Angeles Police Department is so overwhelmed by the flood of sexual-assault allegations rocking the entertainment industry that it has established a “Hollywood sexcrimes task force” to deal with the cases, it was reported Saturday.

The department has assigned five detective duos to investigate 28 open sexual-assault cases out of the industries, while sending 37 more cases to other jurisdictions, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Along with the unprecedented number of accusations and the celebrity status of the suspects and some accusers, the cases are presenting unique challenges for detectives.

LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes told the Times that about 95 percent of the cases lack physical evidence, leaving the detectives to rely on witness accounts, which are rare, given that most of the alleged crimes happened in private.

The LAPD is also requiring every accuser be interviewed before the task force decides if the alleged crime occurred within the statute of limitations.

In the case of the alleged forcible touching and rape of an Italian actress by Harvey Weinstein in 2013, detectives interviewed the accuser for 2½ hours and are now trying to corroborate her story with three people she claimed she told, the Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

More than 60 women have accused the producer of sexual misconduct since The New York Times published a bombshell report on Oct. 5 revealing a string of previous allegations.

The scandal has threatened to envelop Disney. According to The Sunday Times of London, 18 of the alleged Weinstein attacks occurred between 1993 and 2005, when Disney owned Weinstein’s Miramax.

The report comes three weeks after a Canadian actress sued Disney and Weinstein for $4 million, claiming he exposed himself, held her down and removed her skirt.

An insider told the Sunday Times that Weinstein had “great autonomy while he was part of Disney.” The company says it had no knowledge of his behavior.

“There is absolutely no legal basis for [the Canadian actress’] claim against the Walt Disney Company,” a spokesman said.

Yet at least one former Disney human-resources employee told The Huffington Post that she knew of Weinstein’s allegedly predatory behavior.

“It was a known secret,” she said.

ON HIS CASE: Harvey Weinstein at an Oscar party with wife Georgina Chapman in 2013, the year he allegedly raped an actress. An LAPD task force has now taken that case.