LOS ANGELES – Eric Weinberg, the hit TV show “Scrubs” executive producer, was not granted bail on Tuesday after his not guilty plea to sexually abusing five women he allegedly enticed to photo shoots.
As stated by the district attorney’s office, Weinberg was apprehended earlier this month after being charged with 18 felony charges, such as rape, oral copulation, forced sex penetration, sexual battery by restraint, unlawful imprisonment by use of violence, assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury, as well as attempted forceful penetration with a foreign object.
During the initial hearing on Tuesday, Weinberg entered not guilty pleas and his defense argued for his release awaiting the next appearance in court.
Prosecutors described Weinberg as a potential threat to society. Judge Victoria B. Wilson of the Superior Court agreed as well as rejected bail while ordering Weinberg held in custody pending his return to court on Nov. 15.
Weinberg, 62, has been charged with assaults between 2014 and 2019, but authorities believe that there may be other victims dating back to the 1990s, District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference on Oct. 6. He has urged those who are survivors to come forward.
This month, LAPD Detective Ryan Lamar stated that investigators were looking into information obtained from a tip line regarding other potential Weinberg assaults.
According to the IMDB website, Weinberg co-executive produced close to 100 episodes of the NBC hospital dramedy “Scrubs” between 2000 and 2006, and also wrote almost a dozen episodes.
In 2007, he was also a co-executive producer for “Californication,” and he has produced and written for other shows such as “Anger Management,” “Men at Work,” “Veronica’s Closet,” as well as “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, documents filed in Weinberg’s divorce and child custody proceedings in 2020 included accusations by three women that he sexually abused them all through photo shoots.
One woman claimed she met Weinberg in a North Hollywood coffee shop in 2014 when she was 22, and he persuaded her to come to a photo shoot at his house where she stripped down to her underwear.
According to court documents, the woman claimed that while taking photographs, Weinberg grabbed her, forced her to engage in oral sex, choked her, and afterwards raped her as indicated in documents cited by the Times.
