Roman Polanski Denies Molesting 10-Year-Old Girl in 1975, LAPD Launches Investigation
Celebrity

While the controversial actor/filmmaker's attorney says the new sexual assault claim is false, LAPD detectives have opened a new investigation into the allegation he sexually assaulted a girl in 1975.

AceShowbiz - The controversy surrounding Roman Polanski continues. According to a new TMZ report, Los Angeles detectives announced Tuesday, December 12 that they're investigating into an allegation made by artist Marianne Barnard that the Oscar-winning director molested her in 1975, when she was just 10 years old.

Back in October, Barnard told The Sun that Polanski sexually assaulted her at a photo shoot in Malibu decades ago, alleging he molested her after photographing her naked draped in a fur coat. She revealed the incident happened after her mother disappeared from set, leaving the two of them alone. The model said the experience caused her to have PTSF and claustrophobia issues.

However, Polanski, through his attorney Harlan Braun, denied the allegation made by Barnard, who hinted her mother might have been paid off to leave. He said that the claim's false and that they had hired their own private investigators to look into the allegation. Braun also claimed Barnard's mother refused to talk to their investigators, and they've turned over their findings to LAPD.

Barnard has filed an official report with the LAPD's sex crimes unit, in addition to starting a petition to have Polanski removed from The Academy. But the allegation is so old that criminal charges couldn't be brought, even if proven, LAPD acknowledges. Though the statute of limitations has long expired, law enforcement officials suggest they may be able to use any evidence they collect to help in other cases.

Authorities are now probing the case because LAPD detectives "will always take a report from any victim and then determine if the case is within the statute of limitations," said police spokesman Josh Rubenstein.

The 84-year-old director has been a fugitive since he fled to France in 1978 on the eve of final sentencing in an unrelated case for sexually abusing then-13-year-old Samantha Geimer. He splits his time between France, his native Poland and Switzerland.

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