good morning I'm here today to announce
that my office has charged Harvey
Weinstein with sexually assaulting two
women in Los Angeles County we believe
the evidence will show that the
defendant used his power and influence
to gain access to his victims and then
committed violent crimes against them in
the complaint we filed earlier today we
allege that the first sexual assault
took place on February 18th 2013 in a
Los Angeles hotel room for those crimes
defendant Weinstein is charged with one
felony count each of forcible rape
forcible oral copulation and sexual
penetration by use of force he also
faces one felony count of sexual
estrange of another woman we allege the
second assault took place the next
evening in a hotel suite in Beverly
Hills each of these victims told at
least one person about the assault in
2013 they reported the crimes to police
in 2017 their cases were presented to my
office for a criminal case filing
consideration later in that year if
convicted as charged in the case
defendant Weinstein faces up to 28 years
in state prison
my office will ask the court to set bail
at 5 million dollars once the defendants
case is completed in New York we expect
him to appear in a courtroom in Los
Angeles County
to face these charges as you know he is
awaiting trial in New York City in all
eight women came forward to report that
they were sexually assaulted by the
defendant in Los Angeles County three of
those alleged crimes took place outside
of the statute of limitations and for
that reason we have declined to file
charges in those three cases we continue
to investigate allegations involving
three other women
to determine if additional criminal
charges will be filed we cannot comment
further on this case at this time
however I want to commend the victims
who have come forward and bravely
recounted what happened to them
I want victims to know that just because
we may lack sufficient evidence to
charge their assailant it does not mean
that a crime did not occur it simply
means that the evidence was not strong
enough to meet our filing standards to
those victims I want you to know we see
you we hear you and we believe you and
while a criminal case may not have been
filed it is my hope that all victims of
sexual violence find strength and
healing well my minor standing is that
when it was announced that mr. Weinstein
had sexually assaulted others these
victims were motivated to contact their
an attorney and also to contact the
police and that's how we learned about
them it's direct contact through the
police
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