LATIMES.COM TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019B
CITY & STATE
Harvey Weinstein
pleaded not guilty to two
new counts of sexual assault
in New York City on Monday
after prosecutors in Man-
hattan sought to introduce a
new accuser to the case just
weeks before the disgraced
mogul’s criminal trial was
set to begin.
Weinstein’s trial date had
been set for Sept. 9. But after
prosecutors presented a
new indictment containing
two new allegations of pred-
atory sexual assault, Man-
hattan Supreme Court
Judge James Burke pushed
the trial date back to Jan. 6,
2020.
The new charges stem
from an alleged assault
carried out in 1993 against
Annabella Sciorra, an ac-
tress best known for her ap-
pearances in “The Sopra-
nos.”
Court documents made
public Monday also revealed
that a woman who accused
Weinstein of assaulting her
in a Beverly Hills hotel in 2013
will testify at his criminal tri-
al.
Earlier this month,
Burke blocked prosecutors’
attempt to include an allega-
tion that Weinstein had
committed rape in 1993 in
the current criminal case,
noting that evidence had not
been presented to the grand
jury that indicted Weinstein
on charges of predatory sex-
ual assault and rape last
year.
As a result, prosecutors
presented their case anew to
a grand jury this month,
leading to the new indict-
ment. Weinstein was origi-
nally facing two counts of
predatory sexual assault,
one count of a criminal sexu-
al act in the first degree, one
count of rape in the first de-
gree and one count of rape in
the third degree.
In court documentsmade public Monday, prose-
cutors alleged that the as-
sault took place in “the win-
ter season spanning 1993-
1994” inside a Gramercy
Park apartment.
Donna Rotunno, Wein-
stein’s lead defense attorney,
said Monday that prose-
cutors introduced the new
charges at the “eleventh
hour” knowing they would
prompt a delay in the case.
“They full well knew that
this was going to cause a de-
lay. So this delay is on them,”
she said. “We were fully
ready to go to trial on Sept.
9.”
Weinstein has repeatedly
insisted he is innocent and
pleaded not guilty to exist-
ing charges. He was first ar-
rested in May 2018.
Gloria Allred, who is rep-
resenting Sciorra, told re-
porters Monday that she
commended her client’s
bravery to “take the stand
and answer questions under
oath.”
“She has been willing to
do that and share her truth
even though she could antic-
ipate a vigorous cross-ex-
amination by the defense,”
said Allred, who is also rep-
resenting another victim in
the New York case, whose
identity remains unknown.
Weinstein has been ac-
cused of sexual assault or
misconduct by more than 80women in New York, Califor-
nia and London.
Earlier this month, it was
revealed in court papers
that Burke had granted a
motion to allow the prose-
cution to call some of those
accusers to testify at trial.
They include a woman who
claims that Weinstein as-
saulted her at a Beverly Hills
hotel in 2013, and women
who say that the mogul at-
tacked them in New York in
2004 and 2005, according to
filings made public Monday.
Rotunno downplayed the
significance of the decision
Monday, noting that if pros-
ecutors truly believed in the
strength of those cases “they
would have charged him
with those crimes.”
The identities of those
witnesses were redacted in
the court documents. In Oc-
tober 2017, a Italian actress
and model told The Times
Weinstein had “bullied” his
way into her hotel room at
Mr. C Beverly Hills in Febru-
ary 2013 and assaulted her
after he briefly spoke with
her at the Los Angeles Italia
Film, Fashion and Art Fest.
She reported the assault
to the LAPD years later and
that case has been pre-
sented to Los Angeles
County prosecutors. The
woman spoke to The Times
on the condition of anonym-
ity in 2017 because she wasmaking an allegation of sex-
ual assault.
But the witness de-
scribed in the documents
made public Monday is a dif-
ferent person, who made a
similar allegation about We-
instein regarding an inci-
dent that took place in the
same time frame in Beverly
Hills, according to David
Ring, an attorney for the
Italian actress.
According to a source fa-
miliar with the investiga-
tion, the victim described in
court documents in New
York on Monday contacted
the NYPD about a separate
alleged incident of sexual as-
sault involving Weinstein
and a Beverly Hills hotel.
The date of the alleged at-
tack was Feb. 19, 2013, ac-
cording to court filings.
The NYPD referred the
case to Beverly Hills police
for investigation, according
to the source, who spoke on
condition of anonymity in
order to discuss the matter
candidly.
Beverly Hills police have
declined to make public any
details of their investiga-
tions into Weinstein. Police
in Los Angeles and Beverly
Hills have presented several
cases involving Weinstein to
the Los Angeles County dis-
trict attorney’s office, but
charging decisions have yet
to be made.New indictment against Weinstein
HARVEY WEINSTEIN,pictured Monday at a New York court, has pleaded not
guilty to two new counts of sexual assault. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 6.Spencer PlattGetty ImagesFormer mogul’s sexual
assault trial is pushed
back after two more
women step forward.
By James Queally
and Richard WintonAvenatti is accused of
embezzling from a client’s
$1.6-million legal settlement
to cover personal expenses
and buttress his troubled
coffee business.
Prosecutors are also ac-
cusing Avenatti of bank
fraud, alleging that he gave a
Mississippi bank fictitious
personal tax returns to se-
cure more than $4 million in
business loans.
In New York, prosecutors
alleged he tried to extort $
million from Nike by threat-
ening to expose alleged pay-
ments by the shoe company
in the recruitment of college
basketball players.
If convicted of all charges,
Avenatti could face up to 97
years in prison.City News Service
contributed to this report.A Santa Ana judge set a
May trial date for Michael
Avenatti, the attorney who
rose to fame representing
porn actress Stormy Daniels
and was accused of defraud-
ing his clients and failing to
pay taxes in California.
Avenatti, 48, was indicted
in April and his attorney,
Dean Steward, argued that
he would not have time to re-
view evidence for the trial
until June. In court Monday,
U.S. District Judge James
Selna set a May 19, 2020, trialdate and rejected Avenatti’s
request to access computers
from his former law firm that
he had turned over to abankruptcy receiver, who
was complying with a search
warrant from a federal inves-
tigator.Trial for Avenatti is scheduled for May
ATTORNEY Michael Avenatti, shown in L.A. last
September, could face up to 97 years in prison.Brian van der BrugLos Angeles TimesEx-lawyer for Stormy
Daniels is accused of
fraud and tax evasion.
By Alejandra
Reyes-VelardeWhen a police dog died
this month after being left in
his handler’s hot vehicle, it
appears to have been the
first reported heat-related
police dog death in Califor-
nia since 2015.
The Long Beach Police
Department said last week
that the dog and his handler
were off-duty at the time of
the dog’s death. The dog,
Ozzy, died after being left in
the department-issued vehi-
cle when a fail-safe control-
ling system malfunctioned,
as has been the case with
past K-9 deaths throughout
the country.
“We do not advocate for
the use of these systems be-
cause they are fallible. This
isn’t the first time we’ve
heard a report of one of these
systems failing,” said Kath-
leen Wood, staff attorney
with the Animal Legal De-
fense Fund’s criminal justice
program. “We try to tell peo-
ple that you should never
leave an animal in a vehicle,
even for a few minutes.”
According to Long Beach
police, the system uses a
cellphone app to signal
when the vehicle is getting
too warm.
“At this time, we believe
this alert may not have been
working,” Long Beach police
public information officer
Arantxa Chavarria said in a
statement.
In 2015, the Green Bay
Press Gazette found that at
least 46 police dogs through-
out the U.S. died from heat
while inside their handlers’
cars from 2011 to 2015. In the
years since, heat-related K-
deaths, including heat ex-
haustion from being left in a
vehicle, have continued.
Animal rights advocates
have long reminded people
that it doesn’t take long for
an animal to suffer from
heat. Long Beach police offi-
cials did not say how long
Ozzy was left in the vehicle.
“Temperatures inside
cars can reach fatal levels
within minutes,” Wood said.
“Don’t hesitate to call the
police if you see any animal
inside any vehicle.”
In California, it is illegal
to leave an animal unat-
tended in a vehicle when
conditions may endanger its
health and well-being. Cir-
cumstances include heat
and cold as well as a lack of
adequate ventilation, food
or water.
Long Beach police de-
scribed the death as acci-
dental. Wood said these
cases are typically resolved
within the department.
According to a Signal
Tribune profile on Ozzy
from October, the dog was a
half Belgian Malinois and
half German shepherd. He
had worked as a K-9 for more
than five years.OZZYwas in a Long Beach Police Department-issued
vehicle when an app designed to warn of heat failed.
Police K-9 died after
warning system failed
By Colleen Shalby
The former chairman of
the board for the Fifth
Church of Christ, Scientist,
Los Angeles, has been in-
dicted in the theft of more
than $11 million in church
money.
According to a federal
grand jury indictment re-
leased Monday, Charles T.
Sebesta, 54, used the money
on personal expenses, in-
cluding the purchase of a
house and a membership to
Club 33 — an exclusive
Disneyland dining club.
He was charged with six
counts of wire fraud, five
counts of bank fraud and
two counts of aggravated
identity theft.
According to the Depart-
ment of Justice, Sebesta
stole a total of $11,438,
from church assets and
$34,032 from a private high
school that also employed
him.
Sebesta was hired in 2001
as the church’s facilities
manager. The indictment
states that in 2005, he joined
the church and served as its
local chairman, controlling
the church’s financial assets
and operations. From 2005
to 2016, Sebesta allegedly di-
rected the church to make
payments to fake compa-
nies’ bank accounts that he
had opened.
“To further conceal these
payments, Sebesta allegedly
forged a church member’s
signature on numerous
checks drawn against the
church’s bank accounts,”
U.S. Atty. Nicola T. Hanna
wrote in a statement.
In 2008, Sebesta oversaw
the sale of church property
in Hollywood and siphoned
a significant majority of
about $12.8 million in pro-
ceeds for personal use, pros-
ecutors said. The indict-
ment alleges that Sebesta
recorded his thefts in church
records as “donations.”
According to the indict-
ment, Sebesta wired $1.
million and $309,622 in
church money toward his
own personal tax accounts
in 2009 and 2010. His goal was
to allegedly generate over-
payment refunds to himself
from the U.S. Treasury and
the California Franchise Tax
Board.
In 2014, Sebesta and his
assistant at the time were
charged with grand theft in
connection with the theft of
funds from the Catholic mis-
sionary group Lay Mission
Helpers Assn. According to
a lawsuit, the pair had set up
a bank account in the name
of Sebesta’s son and created
fake email accounts and in-
voices to divert about
$177,900.
At the time, the two
agreed to an $869,000 civil
settlement.
If convicted on all
charges, Sebesta faces a
statutory maximum sen-
tence of more than 250 years
in federal prison.Church official
charged with
embezzlement
By Colleen Shalby
CREWS FIGHT BLAZE BY LAND AND AIR
Al SeibLos Angeles TimesA helicopter makes a water drop as an inmate hand crew extinguishes hot spots Monday morning on a
30-acre brush fire that started Sunday in Eagle Rock. About 100 homes in Glendale were evacuated.