The New York Police Department has gathered enough evidence and information to arrest Harvey Weinstein.
This sudden development comes after actress Paz de la Huerta filed a police report alleging that she was raped by Weinstein in 2010 on two occasions.
‘I believe based on my interviews with Paz that from the N.Y.P.D. standpoint we have enough to make an arrest,’ Detective Nicholas DiGaudio told Vanity Fair.
Detective DiGaudio is leading the investigation for the department, and has received reports from at least three women claiming they were sexually assaulted by Weinstein.
There has been no statute of limitations on rape, criminal sexual act or aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree in the state of New York since 2006, which means that de la Huerta has the strongest claim against Weinstein.
The assaults alleged by the other two women took place before that law was changed, which means that even if the district attorney’s office files charges against Weinstein in those cases they could be tossed out of court by a judge.
New York County District Attorney Maxine B. Rosenthal has also been looking into de la Huerta’s claims, with her her lawyer confirming he turned over information and files to her office earlier this week.
On Friday, de la Huerta’s lawyer detailed her experience with Weinstein on ‘Megyn Kelly Today.’
‘She had known him for years because she met him when she was 14 years old when she did Cider house Rules, and she had seen him,’ he said.
‘She lived in the neighborhood in tribecca, where he lives and right up the street from the Weinstein company. This event took place in 2010, when she was 25. She ran into him in a club. He offered her a ride home. And then, once she got to the building, he began pressing to come upstairs.
‘And they argued in front of the doorman. And as we’ve heard in the tape from the wire and from 2015 in New York, convinced her to let him in. And then, rape ensued.’
That did not end the alleged harassment and stalking behavior tho8ugh according to her lawyer.
‘And following that, he began to call her, repeatedly and saying, I’m waiting at your home. I’m in your lobby. I’m parked out front. When are you coming home? And the doorman would warn her. She would stay away,’ he said.
‘She was afraid to come home. Another incident happened in los Angeles. She decided to confront him and tell him you’re a stalker. You raped me. You’ve got to stop. She confronted him in the hotel. She had come to meet him with some other people.
He added: ‘And when she gave him the message. He exposed himself. And she left.
‘This has been going on for two months. And she decided she was going to confront him. She was very upset. The whole period of stalking and not being able to come home, day after day, really had tremendous impact on her.’
Paz, 33, claims the two had met at a party in October 2010, and was offered a ride back to her Manhattan apartment.
Weinstein lived in the same neighborhood, and according to Paz, insisted on having drinks at her place to cap off the night.
But things took a dark turn once they got inside her home, with Paz telling CBS News in a phone interview that he took off her dress and forced himself on her.
‘He pushed me on the bed … and it happened all very suddenly,’ she said.
Two months later, Weinstein allegedly showed up at her apartment after the actress reportedly confronted him weeks earlier. That’s when Paz said he made his way back into the apartment and raped her again.