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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A television writer/producer was ordered to be taken into custody without bail Tuesday after pleading not guilty to charges involving multiple women who allege they were sexually assaulted by him after being lured to his Los Feliz home for photo shoots.
Eric Weinberg -- whose credits include "Scrubs," "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher," "Californication" and "American Dad" -- was charged Sept. 28 with 18 criminal counts, including rape, sexual battery, assault, oral copulation, false imprisonment and forcible penetration by a foreign object.
Weinberg, 62, was initially arrested July 14 by the Los Angeles Police Department and released the next day on a $3.2 million bond, then re- arrested Oct. 4 and freed after a $5 million bond was posted.
He was ordered to remain behind bars while awaiting his next appearance in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Nov. 15, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
District Attorney George Gascón said earlier this month that the charges involve five alleged victims, with the alleged crimes dating back to 2014. But he said investigators believe there are "many more" victims, and he encouraged them to come forward.
"The defendant relied on his position of influence to lure young women for photo shoots, where he allegedly sexually assaulted them," Gascón said. "We will hold anyone who commits such acts accountable, no matter what your job is, your wealth or your privilege."
Gascón said Weinberg is "a man who believed that he could do great harm and yet remain untouchable, and he did for many years."
The charges involve two alleged attacks on women in 2014 and one each in 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the District Attorney's Office.
After his initial arrest in July at his home in the 1900 block of North Edgemont Street, near Franklin Avenue, police said he was suspected of "sexual assaults including rape" that occurred between 2012 and 2019.
LAPD investigators said Weinberg "appears to have targeted women in grocery stores, coffee shops and other public places" and invited them to his home for photo shoots, where the alleged sexual assaults took place.
Investigators have received tips about possible crimes by Weinberg dating back as far as the 1990s, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Ryan Lamar said earlier this month.