The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office has dropped five cases against James Toback, the director and producer accused of sexual harassment by nearly 400 women. Variety reports that the D.A.s Hollywood sex-crimes task force reviewed two cases investigated by the L.A.P.D., and three by the Beverly Hills Police Department, but ultimately found that the allegations—which stretch as far back as 1978—have gone past the statute of limitations.
The details of the allegations are disturbing and bear striking similarities. In the Beverly Hills cases, per Variety, all three women alleged that Toback rubbed himself against them and masturbated. One woman claimed the incident took place in 2008, when she was at a private screening with Toback. The director allegedly told her masturbate, then rubbed himself against her leg until he ejaculated. Though Toback may have committed sexual battery, per the D.A.s office, the one-year statute of limitations has expired.
The other two allegations took place in 1993 and 2008. The first woman claims Toback asked her to have sex. When she declined, he allegedly rubbed himself against her leg and ejaculated, repeating this act four times for the next few hours. Though this, too, might be considered sexual battery, it has fallen outside the statute of limitations. The second case, in 2008, was similar. However, the woman making the claim reportedly stopped cooperating with detectives and would not agree to an interview, Variety notes. Though this case is also apparently beyond the statute of limitations, the D.A.s office is “open to reconsideration if the victim agreed to an interview,” per Variety.
The cases that the L.A.P.D. investigated allegedly took place in 1978 and 1980. The first woman says she was having dinner with Toback; afterward, she claims he pushed her up against the wall and asked to have sex. When she refused, he drove her home and exposed himself in the car, she claims. The second woman says Toback groped her in 1980. As with the previous cases, these fell outside the statute of limitations as well.
When the allegations against Toback were first reported by the Los Angeles Times last October (there were 38 women at the time), the director denied the claims, saying that he never met any of the women; if he did, he added, it “was for five minutes” and he had “no recollection” of any of them.
However, the allegations kept rolling in. Actresses like __Selma Blair__ and Rachel McAdams have also spoken openly about the director, claiming that he sexually harassed them early on in their careers. Toback denied these allegations as well. The claims against Toback, eventually 395 of them, were part of an industry-wide reckoning that took place after the personal and professional implosion of Harvey Weinstein.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Yohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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