On October 25, actress Paz de la Huerta accused producer Harvey Weinstein of raping her, seven years ago, during two separate incidents.
"He pushed me on the bed ... and it happened all very suddenly," she told CBS News about the first 2010 incident, when Weinstein offered to give her a ride home after a party in NYC. Four months later, she says the producer showed up in the lobby of her apartment. They went upstairs, and she alleges he raped her a second time.
De la Huerta is one of over 70 women who have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. The only difference? This time, he could actually find himself in court.
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"We are happy with where the investigation is right now," chief of detectives Robert Boyce said in a news conference earlier today regarding their investigation into de la Huerta's claims. "Mr. W is out of state, so we would need an arrest warrant to arrest him. So, right now we are gathering our evidence. We continue to do so every day. This is a collaborative effort between us and the district attorney of New York. So we'll work together to get this done."
Boyce said that were Weinstein still in New York City, and had the alleged attack occurred recently, they would "go right away and make the arrest." But due to the gap in time and Weinstein's current whereabouts make the process more complex.
"In order to go arrest Mr. Weinstein, we need a court order," Boyce explained. "So we want to gather our evidence first before we go and do something like that.
Over in LA, the LAPD are investigating a different anonymous rape allegation. Refinery29 has reached out to Harvey Weinstein and Paz de la Huerta for comment and will update if we hear back. The NYPD directed us to video of their news conference.
If you have experienced sexual violence and are in need of crisis support, please call theRAINN Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).