According to the Associated Press, the LAPD has confirmed that it has opened a new investigation into Roman Polanski after a woman came forward with accusations that he raped her in 1975 when she was 10 years old. The statute of limitations on the allegations ran out a long time ago, though, so the LAPD can’t charge Polanski with anything even if the claims can be proven, but the report says that authorities are investigating anyway because they “may be able to use any evidence they collect to help prosecute other cases.”
The woman first talked to the police in October, telling them that Polanski molested her during a photo shoot after he had asked her to pose naked in a fur coat. Samantha Geimer, the woman who Polanski was convicted of having “unlawful sexual intercourse” with when she was 13, also said that she had been molested after a photo shoot. Polanski fled the country before he could be sentenced in that case, and his lawyers have recently been trying to convince a judge to dismiss it because their client is an award-winning filmmaker who deserves to be above the law, but the efforts have been unsuccessful so far.
In this new case, the Associated Press adds that Polanski’s attorney, Harland Braun, has “hired an investigator to interview the accuser’s relatives,” and he says he believes that “a competent LAPD investigation will prove the whole story to be bogus.”
A few months ago, a German actress named Renate Langer also came forward with new allegations against Polanski, saying he raped her when she was a teenager in 1972.