The Los Angeles Police Department has announced that they have 28 Hollywood sexual misconduct cases that are currently open and the police chief expects there to be more on the way after setting up in unprecedented Hollywood sexual assault task force. Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey announced late last week the creation of a special task force to examine allegations of sexual assault spreading through Hollywood as the number of accusations reported to police has steadily increased. The open cases all stem from the Harvey Weinstein scandal that rocked the entertainment industry back at the end of September.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck spoke to the Los Angeles Times via email and revealed that five teams of two special assignment detectives are investigating various allegations. Among those are producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Ed Westwick, Girls writer Murray Miller, and agent Tyler Grasham, among others. All of the accused have denied the sexual misconduct allegations against them. Police Chief Beck had this to say in regard to more cases being filed.

"We anticipate the LAPD and other jurisdictions will receive even more high-profile sex crime reports in the coming weeks and months. We encourage all victims of sexual assault to come forward to report these crimes."

The Los Angeles Times reports that never before has the LAPD received so many sexual assault allegations involving high-profile figures at one time, including many complex cases that are years old with multiple alleged victims, officials say. When dealing with some of the older cases, the new sexual assault task force include members of the cold-case unit, because those detectives are experts in dealing with old criminal allegations that lack physical evidence. California ended its statute of limitations for rape cases after Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation filed in the wake of sexual assault allegations against comedian Bill Cosby in 2016. 

The LAPD has also currently taken 37 other sex crime reports that it has sent to other law enforcement agencies, believing the alleged crimes occurred in those jurisdictions. The Beverly Hills Police Department is currently investigating 12 sexual assault allegations made against members of the entertainment industry, which widens the net on the sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked the entertainment industry in recent months. Harvey Weinstein alone has cases open in Los Angeles, New York City, and in London.

The number of women and men coming forward and naming their abusers in the entertainment industry has skyrocketed since late September when the allegations against Harvey Weinstein became public knowledge. Since then, Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Ed Westwick, Murray Miller, Louis C.K., and a slew of others have had allegations of sexual assault thrown their way and as a result, they have lost work and footing in Hollywood. It's baffling that there are so many cases open and that the LAPD expects more allegations every day as more men and women step forward. You can read more about the current 28 open cases that the LAPD has open via The Los Angeles Times.