Eric Weinberg, a writer and producer on the television series “Scrubs,” was ordered on Tuesday to stand trial on 28 counts of rape and sexual battery, after he was charged in 2022 with sexually assaulting at least five women, court records show.
Judge Charlaine Olmedo of Los Angeles County Superior Court made the ruling after a preliminary hearing that stretched from the end of April to early May and included testimony from several women.
Mr. Weinberg is scheduled to be arraigned on June 4 at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, court records show. A trial date had not been set as of Wednesday.
When Mr. Weinberg was initially charged in October 2022 prosecutors said that from 2014 through 2019 he lured young women to photo shoots and sexually assaulted at least five of them.
Prosecutors said that starting with two separate instances in 2014, Mr. Weinberg approached two women in public and told them that he was a photographer. The women later visited his home, where Mr. Weinberg sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.
Mr. Weinberg repeated that scheme in 2017, and he is also accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2018 and another in 2019, according to prosecutors.
George Gascón, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said in 2022 that Mr. Weinberg counted on his “Hollywood credentials” to coax women to his home.
“Power and influence can corrupt some to hurt others that often leads to a lifetime of trauma for those who are victimized,” Mr. Gascón said.
Mr. Weinberg at one point faced 32 charges, including sexual battery, rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration with force and assault with intent. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Four of those charges were dismissed on Tuesday on the grounds that there was not enough evidence, court records show.
Prosecutors and a lawyer for Mr. Weinberg, Robin Sax, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Micha Liberty, a lawyer representing women in civil cases against Mr. Weinberg, said in an email on Wednesday that they looked “forward to justice being served.”
Ms. Liberty represents some women who she said “bravely testified” at the preliminary hearing, “subjecting themselves to the emotional trauma caused by being in the same room with Mr. Weinberg where they were peppered with victim-blaming questions.”
“But they all stood up and told the truth and each of them will be there again to speak truth to power at the criminal trial,” Ms. Liberty said.
After Mr. Weinberg was arrested in July 2022 on several sexual assault charges, dozens of potential victims emerged and reached out to the authorities, prosecutors said. Mr. Weinberg has been in jail since October 2022, when a judge revoked his $5 million bail, court records show.
His arrest came as the entertainment industry has grappled with the #MeToo movement, which prompted many victims of sexual misconduct to speak out against leaders in the business.
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement announcing Mr. Weinberg’s arrest in 2022 that he had targeted women in their 20s or 30s at grocery stores, coffee shops and other public areas, “under the guise of being a photographer,” and that he would then sexually assault women during a photo shoot.
In addition to his work on “Scrubs,” Mr. Weinberg was a writer and producer on the TV series “Californication,” and he was a writer on “Politically Incorrect,” which was hosted by Bill Maher, according to IMDb.
Source Agencies
