The sexual assault allegations against Sylvester Stallone are now officially under review by Los Angeles County prosecutors.
The L.A. County district attorney’s office’s special entertainment industry task force has been investigating the case against Stallone, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. The assault was reported to Santa Monica police last year. Following the #MeToo movement and the wave of fresh police reports, that department handed it over to the D.A.’s new team.
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The assault allegedly took place in the ’90s. Stallone has categorically denied the accusation, and may have even filed a complaint calling it a false police report, according to his attorney.
Under California state law, a case this old cannot be prosecuted since it is now past the statute of limitations that was in place at the time. However, it has still made it all the way to the desks of county prosecutors. District attorney spokesman Greg Risling confirmed that it was under review to the L.A. Times, though he would not comment much further.
Many cases brought forward in the #MeToo movement have faced the issue of the statute of limitations. Many legitimate reports have been set aside by prosecutors simply because they are too old to be pursued. Hundreds of women have reportedly accused James Toback of sexual misconduct, and five investigations were conducted by police. However, prosecutors could not move forward because of the strict state law.
Gov. Jerry Brown helped change that law in 2016. He reportedly sign legislation to alter the California penal code. Now certain sex crimes, including rape, molestation of a child and forcible sodomy, can be prosecuted at any time. However, that does not technically cover many of the reports brought to police in the last several months.
Brown signed that legislation due to the avalanche of allegations against Bill Cosby. These days, the pressure is higher than ever to enact lasting change and prevent sexual assault, harassment and misconduct.
Just last month, Los Angeles police also determined that they could not prosecute Scott Baio for his alleged sexual assault of his Charlie in Charge co-star Nicole Eggert. Eggert shared her story online, and also made appearances on Dr. Oz and Megyn Kelly Today.
Baio vehemently denied the accusation all throughout the ordeal, and the District Attorney’s office finally decided that it fell outside of the statute of limitations.
“I always knew this case was beyond statutes of limitations and unfortunately the DA would not be able to prosecute Scott Baio,” Eggert told TMZ. “However I also knew the importance of laying the groundwork for any future victims of Baio’s that may come forward and to warn parents who might unknowingly allow their children to be alone with this molester.”