‘Scrubs’ Writer Eric Weinberg Charged by Los Angeles District Attorney

Television writer and producer Eric Weinberg has been charged with 18 counts of sexual assault by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office. Weinberg was arrested again on Tuesday and later released on $5 million bail, up from his previous bail of $3.225 million.

In a press conference on Wednesday, District Attorney George Gascón said that his office asked that Weinberg remain in detention without bail but that a judge denied the request. Gascón noted that Weinberg, who he called “a very wealthy individual,” quickly posted bail.

In a recent investigation, more than two dozen women spoke with The Hollywood Reporter alleging a pattern of predatory behavior and misconduct going back decades. THR uncovered allegations as early as 2000, including claims of inappropriate conduct involving minors. 

Women described how Weinberg would use photography as a pretense to get closer to them, often listing his Hollywood credits in order to establish credibility and trust. Some say Weinberg would pressure them during shoots into taking off clothing. Multiple women also described Weinberg as engaging in sexual activity without their consent, frequently photographing the acts as they took place.

Weinberg’s conduct put him on the radar of law enforcement repeatedly before his eventual arrest in July, with multiple women telling THR that they reported Weinberg for claims of sexual assault and stalking. Weinberg was arrested for the first time in 2014 after then 22-year-old Kayra Raecke alleged to LAPD that Weinberg had raped her during a photo shoot at his Los Feliz home. 

Raecke told THR how she had agreed to the photo shoot on the condition that she remain clothed. But during the shoot, Weinberg removed her clothes and assaulted her, she said. A police report taken shortly after the alleged incident describes how Weinberg “with one hand began choking Kayra and taking photos.”    

“After I had said no so many times, he continued doing what he wanted anyway,” she said. “I didn’t know what else he was capable of, including violence. I thought there was a real possibility that I might die there.”

Raecke’s report triggered an investigation and Weinberg’s arrest. In June 2014, an LAPD detective submitted the case to the district attorney’s office, where Deputy District Attorney Teresa de Castro declined to prosecute, citing “insufficient evidence.”

“She claimed she did not consent. He claimed a consensual encounter. There is no corroboration for the victim’s allegations,” de Castro wrote in a charge evaluation worksheet. She did not respond to a previous request for comment.

Again, in 2016, law enforcement recommended charges against Weinberg to the district attorney’s office for an alleged nonconsensual sexual encounter with an unnamed woman that took place in 2014, again during a photo shoot at his home. According to a charge evaluation worksheet, Weinberg had “intercourse with her while she was laying on his bed” and she “orally copulated him” while he “photographed the encounter.”

While the deputy district attorney in the case noted in the charge evaluation worksheet that Weinberg had “been investigated for the same conduct involving a separate victim” and characterized Weinberg’s conduct as “inappropriate,” he nonetheless declined to pursue charges because there was “no evidence that the defendant used force, threats or intimidation to overcome the will of the victims.”

Raecke and dozens of others with similar stories became aware of each other in 2020 after seeing Facebook posts by artist Claire Wilson, who had met Weinberg on OkCupid in December 2019. 

The two met up for drinks before going back to Weinberg’s house “only to hang out and talk,” she would later tell police. There, she told police that Weinberg physically restrained her and forced her to perform sexual acts. While Wilson initially described the encounter as beginning consensually in a Facebook post and a court declaration, she says she now understands herself to have been in a state of trauma and unable to give consent. 

Weinberg appeared as a steady presence in writers rooms from the late 1990s to 2016. Most notably, he worked on the hit NBC show Scrubs from 2002 to 2006, with credits as co-executive producer on over 100 episodes. He held the same position for one season of Showtime’s David Duchovny vehicle Californication, as well as FX’s Anger Management starring Charlie Sheen.

He received five Emmy nominations for his work on Scrubs and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.

Micha Star Liberty, an Oakland-based attorney with Liberty Law representing a large group of accusers, told THR in a statement, “On behalf of my numerous clients, I am grateful and gratified that the Distinct Attorney’s office has acted swiftly with respect to Mr. Weinberg’s disgusting and damaging crimes that have forever altered the lives of his victims.”

Liberty indicated plans on pursuing Weinberg in civil court.

“I look forward to working to achieve justice through our civil system to help those in need of therapy and other necessary medical treatment to remedy the significant damage done by Eric and others that enabled him to continue to perpetrate abuse upon his victims,” she said.

Lawyers for Weinberg did not respond to a request for comment. In a previous statement, Weinberg’s divorce attorney Karen Silver dismissed the allegations as “strategically placed criminal allegations” stemming from “a heavily litigated and acrimonious custody dispute.”

“These claims have previously been investigated and reviewed by both law enforcement and the Los Angeles family court and the results have continued to unveil a myriad of evidence, documentation and expert analysis that wholly undermine the narrative now being promulgated,” Silver previously told THR. “Though Mr. Weinberg himself is precluded from commenting on any aspect of this litigation due to court orders, family law rules and in the best interests of his minor children, he will continue through counsel to cooperate in all aspects of this investigation and, if necessary, will address these allegations in the only forum that should matter — a public courtroom.”