The co-executive producer of the US comedy series Scrubs has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault.
Appearing in a court of law in downtown Los Angeles, California, Eric Weinberg was denied bail after filing his pleas.
According to US media reports, he will be held in the Twin Towers prison in Los Angeles before the next court hearing scheduled for November.
Weinberg pleaded not guilty to each of the 18 sexual assault charges.
Photo: LAPD
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney, the 62-year-old is accused of relying on his “Hollywood credentials” to lure young women to photo shoots where he allegedly assaults them.
The alleged incidents involve five women at different times between 2014 and 2019.
Weinberg was not working on the hospital comedy Scrubs at the time of the alleged offenses, with the show ending in March 2010 after airing for more than nine years. He worked on the show from 2001 to 2007.
The producer is charged with six counts of sexual penetration by the use of force, four counts of oral copulation, three counts of forced rape and two counts of sexual beating for restraint.
It also faces a count each of forcibly assaulting that could result in severe physical injury, attempted sexual penetration with the use of force, and false imprisonment with violence.
Weinberg approached two women in public places and told them he was a photographer on two separate occasions in 2014, according to prosecutors.
After allegedly communicating with each of the victims, they eventually went to his home, where he is accused of sexually assaulting them.
He then allegedly used the same tactic to bring another young woman to his home, and allegedly sexually assaulted her, in 2017.
Weinberg is also accused of sexually assaulting two women in separate incidents in 2018 and 2019, the district attorney’s office said.
His next court appearance is expected to take place on November 15.
