Hollywood producer Eric Weinberg was taken into custody by Los Angeles police on Tuesday after prosecutors filed 18 sexual abuse and assault expenses in opposition to him.

The previous “Scrubs” co-executive producer was arrested by intercourse crimes detectives after the Los Angeles County district lawyer filed expenses of rape, oral copulation, sexual battery, false imprisonment, assault by means to trigger nice bodily hurt, and 6 counts of forcible penetration by a international object, court docket data present.

Weinberg was being held in lieu of $5 million bail as of Tuesday night.

Greater than half a dozen girls have made allegations over the past seven years that Weinberg lured them to his dwelling, typically below the guise of a photograph shoot, earlier than restraining and sexually assaulting them, police interviews and data obtained by The Occasions in July confirmed.

Los Angeles Police Division intercourse crime investigators beforehand arrested him on July 14 in reference to a number of sexual assaults, together with rape, between 2012 and 2019. LAPD Capt. Kelly Muniz instructed The Occasions the division had recognized at the least eight girls Weinberg could have victimized.

The dates akin to the brand new expenses weren’t accessible Tuesday night.

Micha Star Liberty, a Bay Space civil rights lawyer who’s representing a number of the girls accusing Weinberg of abuse, mentioned in an announcement that she was “grateful that the District Lawyer has acted in furtherance of accountability.”

“The numerous variety of victims and the horrific affect inflicted upon these girls won’t go unremediated,” she mentioned. “We won’t relaxation till there’s justice.”

Based on police and civil court docket data, Weinberg lured girls from espresso bars, supermarkets and a Los Feliz pie store to his Edgemont Avenue dwelling.

After one encounter, a lady started utilizing a Fb group to warn about Weinberg’s alleged conduct, in accordance with a declaration filed in household court docket. Not less than twice earlier than his arrest on July 14, Weinberg had been investigated by the LAPD on suspicion of sexual assault, reserving data and statements from the LAPD present.

Throughout divorce and baby custody proceedings in October 2020, testimony from three girls who mentioned he sexually assaulted them throughout picture periods was offered. His then-wife’s lawyer alleged Weinberg additionally tried to select up a teenage woman who attended their son’s highschool and the woman turned out to know his son, in accordance with a 2020 baby custody submitting in L.A. County household legislation court docket.

Weinberg couldn’t be reached by The Occasions for remark. However his lawyer within the baby custody case denied any wrongdoing on his half, calling the ladies’s declarations a “blatant smear marketing campaign” with “unconscionable and unsubstantiated allegations” which might be designed to painting him within the “most horrendous mild.”

Detectives have mentioned Weinberg would method girls of their 20s and 30s and arrange picture shoots with them. Generally he talked about his profession in Hollywood.

Weinberg labored on 92 episodes of “Scrubs” from 2001 to 2007 and wrote a few of them. He additionally served as a producer on “Veronica’s Closet,” “Californication” and “Anger Administration,” in addition to “Males at Work,” which starred Danny Masterson, who has additionally been charged with sexual abuse of a number of girls.

The LAPD beforehand offered two rape investigations in opposition to Weinberg to the Los Angeles County district lawyer’s workplace, which declined to prosecute Weinberg for incidents in April and August 2014, citing a scarcity of enough proof, in accordance with a declination from the workplace and statements from the LAPD.

“It wasn’t till detectives obtained a latest late-reported rape that they opened one other investigation into Weinberg,” LAPD officers mentioned in an announcement to The Occasions. “It was … this new reported crime that led detectives to the extra victims being recognized.”

Detectives have since offered a number of new instances, that are below assessment with the district lawyer’s workplace, authorities mentioned.

“The investigation is within the early phases and never full; nonetheless, eight victims have been recognized,” police mentioned, including that investigators are working by way of suggestions and anticipate extra instances.

Based on an LAPD assertion, detectives knew a Fb group was created after the preliminary instances in opposition to Weinberg had been rejected, and investigators are wanting into social media posts to establish different doable victims.

Paperwork filed in a household legislation case between Weinberg and his ex-wife present allegations from three girls of sexually violent encounters with him from 2014 to 2019. The dates in these incidents don’t correspond with different allegations beforehand declined by prosecutors. The Occasions doesn’t establish victims of sexual assault with out their consent.

One younger lady alleged that she was 22 when she met him at a espresso store, Republic of Pie, in North Hollywood.

“Eric raped and bodily assaulted me in 2014 after convincing me to come back to his dwelling for a photograph shoot,” she mentioned in a 2020 declaration filed in a household legislation case involving Weinberg. The lady mentioned Weinberg appeared skilled, displaying her the pictures he had shot of different girls and telling her he was a father of three.

On April 29, 2014, they met at his dwelling, she mentioned. She agreed to undress right down to her bra and underwear, and Weinberg instructed the girl she wanted to use lotion “as a result of it was good for the lighting,” court docket data present.

“Whereas Eric was placing lotion on my again‚ he started to take off my underwear…. I by no means instructed Eric he might undress me, and I didn’t consent to him placing his tongue on me,” the girl mentioned in a court docket declaration. “I didn’t know what was taking place and was terrified. I didn’t understand how I used to be going to get away from him. I fully froze up.”

She mentioned he continued to take images as he pinned her to the mattress and compelled her to carry out oral intercourse. He then choked her “and squeezed so exhausting that I assumed I used to be going to go out,” after which he raped her, she alleged within the declaration. Afterward, she mentioned, he loaded the images onto a flash drive and gave it to her.

In one other sworn declaration, a 31-year-old North Hollywood storyboard artist mentioned she met Weinberg at a Ralphs in February 2019. He requested if she modeled and whether or not her breasts had been pure, she mentioned, then provided to take images of her after telling her about his household and his work on “Scrubs.”

She mentioned when she got here to his dwelling, the picture shoot started in what gave the impression to be a woman’s bed room. At first, he was skilled, however because the bare mannequin and the photographer moved to different areas, issues took a sexually violent flip, in accordance with court docket paperwork.

Almost a 12 months later, court docket data present, a 30-year-old lady met Weinberg on OK Cupid and went for a glass of wine with him earlier than going to his dwelling to hearken to music, in accordance with the girl’s declaration filed in a household court docket case involving Weinberg. After kissing in the lounge, they went to the bed room and started to take away their garments consensually, however then he turned aggressive, forcing her to carry out sexual acts whereas he restrained her, the girl mentioned within the declaration.

Within the aftermath, she mentioned in court docket paperwork, “he spent the hour attempting to persuade me that I had ‘misremembered’ … [but] I knew I didn’t consent.”