New York police building case to arrest Weinstein in sexual assault case

NEW YORK — The police in New York said Friday that they have developed a strong criminal case against Harvey Weinstein after an actress's claim that he raped her seven years ago.

Speaking at a news conference at Police Headquarters in Lower Manhattan, officials in the Police Department said they were gathering evidence with an eye toward preparing a warrant to arrest Weinstein, whose representatives have said is undergoing therapy outside New York.

The claims of the actress, Paz de la Huerta, have been a focus of investigators in the department's Special Victims Division for several days, since Weinstein's long history of sexual harassment of women was detailed in reports by The New York Times and other news organizations early last month. Those reports prompted a mountain of tips to the police in New York and London about other episodes.

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If Weinstein were in the city, the Police Department's chief of detectives, Robert K. Boyce, said that his investigators would seek to arrest him immediately. But with him out of the jurisdiction of the New York police, and with seven years having elapsed since the attacks are said to have taken place, the police will instead continue gathering evidence.

"We have an actual case going forward," Boyce said. "If this person was still in New York and it was recent we would go right away and make the arrest, no doubt. But we're talking about a 7-year-old case. And we have to move forward gathering evidence."

The announcement suggesting that criminal charges would be forthcoming marked a dramatic ratcheting up of law enforcement action against Weinstein, who is already under investigation.

De la Huerta's lawyer, in recounting his client's claims, has described in recent interviews two attacks that occurred in 2010, while the actress was in the city. De La Huerta appeared in the HBO drama "Boardwalk Empire."