That ’70s Show entertainer Danny Masterson was accused of the rape of three ladies in the mid 2000s, Los Angeles investigators said Wednesday, the climax of a three-year examination that brought about an uncommon capture of a well known Hollywood figure in the #MeToo period.
The three tallies of rape forcibly or dread against Masterson were documented Tuesday, and an arrest warrant gave. Masterson, 44, was arrested late Wednesday morning, prison records appeared. He was discharged a couple of hours after the fact in the wake of posting bond and is booked to be charged Sept.18.
Masterson’s attorney Tom Mesereau said his client is innocent, and “we’re confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence finally comes to light and witnesses have the opportunity to testify.”
Investigators charge that Masterson assaulted a 23-year-elderly person at some point in 2001, a 28-year-elderly person in April of 2003, and a 23-year-elderly person he had welcome to his Hollywood Hills home among October and December of 2003.
Whenever sentenced, he could look as long as 45 years in jail.
Examiners declined to record charges in two other Masterson cases that police had explored, one on account of lacking proof and the other in light of the fact that the legal time limit had lapsed.
Masterson has been hitched to on-screen character and model Bijou Phillips since 2011.
“Obviously, Mr. Masterson and his wife are in complete shock considering that these nearly 20-year old allegations are suddenly resulting in charges being filed, but they and their family are comforted knowing that ultimately the truth will come out,” said Mesereau, who has previously represented Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby in their trials for sexual crimes.
“The people who know Mr. Masterson know his character and know the allegations to be false.”
The women, whose names were not made public, issued a statement through their attorneys saying they have suffered “harassment, embarrassment and re-victimization” since they began cooperating with authorities.
“We are thankful that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is finally seeking criminal justice against Masterson,” the statement said. “We are confident that the truth will be known and hope that the charges filed today are the first steps in this long journey of healing, justice, and holding those that victimized us accountable.”
The supposed assaults came at the stature of Masterson’s acclaim as he featured on the retro sitcom That ’70s Show nearby Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace. The arrangement ran on Fox TV from 1998 to 2006 and has had a long the hereafter in reruns.
He had rejoined with Kutcher on the Netflix western sitcom The Ranch when the LAPD examination of him was uncovered in March 2017. The news didn’t have quick vocation repercussions for Masterson, yet later in the year, after charges against Harvey Weinstein shook Hollywood’s way of life, he was discounted the show.
Masterson censured the Hollywood environment that prompted his losing the employment, and furthermore recommended at the time that his prominent enrollment in the Church of Scientology was prompting his oppression.
He said in a 2017 statement that “in the current climate, it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused.”
Since police were at that point exploring him, Masterson’s case was not among those taken up by a team shaped by Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey to examine sexual unfortunate behavior in media outlets. That team has declined to record charges in excess of 20 cases in the two years of its reality, charging just Weinstein himself.
Los Angeles investigators have started endeavors to bring Weinstein to California to deal with indictments of assault and rape. He is being held in a New York jail subsequent to being indicted for comparable charges not long ago.
Masterson’s case despite everything stands apart as simply the second arrangement of charges Los Angeles investigators have recorded against a well known Hollywood figure in the #MeToo period.
Masterson worked consistently beginning in the mid 1990s, generally in TV sitcoms including Cybill and Men at Work alongside That ’70s Show and The Ranch.
His film credits incorporate the 2008 Jim Carrey satire Yes Man, The Bridge to Nowhere in 2009, wherein he featured with his future spouse Phillips, and 2011’s The Chicago 8, wherein he played 1960s antiwar dissident Jerry Rubin.
