‘Scrubs’ Writer Eric Weinberg Accused of Predatory Sexual Assaults by Dozens of Women

Eric Weinberg, a television writer and producer for shows like “Scrubs” and “Californication” who was arrested in July for “multiple” reports of sexual assaults, is accused by more than two dozen women — many speaking on the record — of luring them to his family home, where he brazenly sexually assaulted them, according to The Hollywood Reporter in a story published Thursday.

The exhaustive report details Weinberg’s pattern of approaching young women in public places, using his Hollywood credentials — along with scripted flattery and calculated assurances — to gain their trust and interest. Once at his home, Weinberg was repeatedly described as becoming immediately sexually and physically aggressive, pushing past spoken boundaries and often taking graphic pictures as he carried out the assaults.

There is evidence Weinberg has been engaged in this pattern for more than 20 years, and investigators suggest that the victims could number in the hundreds. THR said it spoke with one woman who had an encounter with Weinberg as far back as 2000; at one point in 2008, Weinberg’s wife found several nude pictures and sheets of paper in his golf bag with the handwritten names, numbers and locations of hundreds of women.

“We have not scratched the surface,” one detective involved in the investigation told THR. “It is overwhelming the amount of new women that have come forward.”

Weinberg remains free on $3.2 million bail, which he posted following his arrest on July 14. He is charged with 20 counts of sexual assault, including rape, and will remain free until his arraignment, which is not yet scheduled.

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Weinberg was an executive producer, co-executive producer or consulting producer on 10 high-profile TV shows dating back to 2005, including “Veronica’s Closet” and Charlie Sheen’s post-meltdown show “Anger Management” from 2013-14. He was a writer on that show, as well as several others – including “Scrubs” and Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect,” both of which Weinberg was Emmy-nominated for. He collected five nominations from 1995-2006 but did not win.

Underlying the horrors of the assaults described by the many victims is similar tales of police indifference and inaction that stretched across years and multiple reports against Weinberg. Some said they filed complaints but were never contacted (the woman accusing “Home Alone” actor Devin Ratray reports the same experience in New York); others had their cases recommended to prosecutors but they were never pursued.

In one case, a woman told THR she brought along a friend to the photo shoot as a precaution; both said they wound up being assaulted in the same visit. In 2014, a woman had a rape kit administered immediately after the photo-shoot assault and filed a complaint that was ultimately dismissed for “insufficient evidence.” She was called back to the district attorney’s office later that year when another woman accused Weinberg of the exact same pattern. That case was also not prosecuted.

In the end, it took a coalition of survivors who had found each other online, through personal connections or by calling Weinberg’s wife, to get the attention of law enforcement. Claire Wilson, a Los Angeles-based artist, told THR that when she posted on a private women’s Facebook group about Weinberg in 2020, it sparked an outpouring of similar stories and comments.

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At the time, Weinberg’s wife Hilary Bidwell, in a divorce and custody battle with her then still-husband at the time, Googled his name and “sexual assault.” She found the group to which Wilson had been posting, made contact, and a few victims agreed to supply sworn statements.

Bidwell hired private investigators to search for more survivors, who remained skeptical that what she was accusing him of could be true — until earlier this year, when Bidwell got a call out of the blue from a 22-year-old model named Cassidy Rouch, saying she’d been sexually assaulted by Weinberg at their house.

THR says that prompted investigators to reach out to David DeJute, a former assistant U.S. attorney now practicing law in Los Angeles, who took an interest in the case and assembled a group of Weinberg’s accusers for a meeting. They also engaged with law enforcement, and the LAPD’s Special Assaults Section got on the case.

After months of waiting, on July 14, more than a dozen agents in tactical gear took Weinberg into custody and served a search warrant on the house — the same Los Feliz home where he is accused of assaulting the women, in some cases starting off the shoots, and aggressive advances, in his young daughter’s bedroom.

Some of the women who Weinberg approached were minors at the time. Bidwell tells THR that the mother of a 17-year-old called her in 2017, saying her husband had invited the girl over, then pulled her onto his couch and tried to unzip her sweater. In 2019, one girl who was 16 at the time says Weinberg approached her at a Starbucks just a few blocks from the high school where she and his teenaged son were classmates; she recognized the boy when Weinberg, trying to reassure her that he was a decent guy, showed her a picture of his family.

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Weinberg’s habit of approaching potential victims was so prolific that he would sometimes proposition the same woman on multiple occasions — or women who knew him previously — without recognizing them.

Five separate women told THR that Weinberg approached them years or weeks apart, reintroducing himself each time. One woman filmed Weinberg in October 2017 after he rode up to her on his bike, saying to him in the video: “You should stop harassing me and stop walking with me and stop following me — it’s f—-ng creepy, dude. … You’ve done this three times in a month.”

Actress Azure Parsons told THR that Weinberg, showrunner for the 2011 MTV show “Death Valley,” harassed her for the entire run of the show’s single season — then some years later, pulled up into her driveway and began to compliment her body, saying he wanted to photograph her. She says she screamed at him, whereupon he tried to force her into his car. She says she escaped, but police never followed up on her complaint.

According to THR, Weinberg sought treatment for sex addiction on multiple occasions through the years while trying to hold his marriage together, admitting to extramarital affairs and inappropriate behavior but denying assaults or forced contact. Bidwell filed for divorce multiple times beginning in 2008, each time unsuccessfully, though they had been living under a separation and shared-custody agreement since 2009.

Aside from his divorce attorney Karen Silver, reps for Weinberg could not be determined. Silver did not immediately respond to request for comment, but offered the following statement to THR:

“As we have unfortunately seen these days, time and time again, a heavily litigated and acrimonious custody dispute has now given rise to strategically placed criminal allegations. 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. 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.”

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