Actor Danny Masterson has been charged with three counts of felony rape by force or fear.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, announced today Masterson has been, “charged with forcibly raping three women in separate incidents occurring between 2001 and 2003.”
A felony complaint for an arrest warrant was filed against Masterson. The document accuses Masterson of raping a 23-year-old woman between January and December 2001.
The complaint states, “In April 2003, Masterson allegedly raped a 28-year-old woman and sometime between October and December of that year he is accused of raping a 23-year-old woman who he had invited to his Hollywood Hills home.”
According to the Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller, who is prosecuting Masterson, all of the alleged crimes went down at Masterson’s LA home.
Masterson is facing a maximum sentence of 45 years in state prison if convicted on the charges. The Los Angeles County District Attorney said there were two other cases relating to Masterson which he was not charged for due to insufficient evidence and the incident occurring outside the statute of limitation. Masterson is still being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division
Masterson is scheduled to appear in court on September 18.
As The Blast previously reported, last year, Masterson was sued by four women who accused him of sexual assault. The women added The Church of Scientology as a defendant. Masterson has denied all claims of abuse. The lawsuit is still pending in Los Angeles Court. The women are suing for stalking and invasion of privacy, among other claims. They are seeking unspecified damages
The actor first faced accusations of sexual abuse in 2017. Following other women coming forward, Masterson was fired from the Netflix series “The Ranch” starring Ashton Kutcher.
At the time, though a rep, Masterson told The Blast, “This is beyond ridiculous. I’m not going to fight my ex-girlfriend in the media like she’s been baiting me to do for more than two years. I will beat her in court—and look forward to it because the public will finally be able learn the truth and see how I’ve been railroaded by this woman. And once her lawsuit is thrown out, I intend to sue her and the others who jumped on the bandwagon for the damage they caused me and my family.”