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Manager of Child Actors Arrested on Charges of Molestation
Photo by Brian Bubonic via the LAist Featured Photos pool
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Today, we can briefly switch from reading about college football coaches who are being charged with child molestation to reading about a Hollywood hotshot being accused of the same. How refreshing!
The LA Times reports that Martin Weiss, a manager of child actors who's run a business in L.A. since the 1990s, was arrested on Tuesday after a former client went to the police and alleged that Wiess forced him to have sex between 30 and 40 times from the time the boy was 11 or 12 until he was 15.
The accuser, who's now 18, brought a recording of a conversation in which Weiss allegedly admitted to the incidents. Weiss reportedly goes on to say that he somehow thought the sex was somehow consensual.
The alleged victim says that he never reported the abuse out of fear of what would happen to his family. He went to the police on November 17 in part because he believes that there are other victims.
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David Ring, an attorney specializing in sexual harassment, told the Times that it's no coincidence that perpetrators of sexual violence against children turn up in places where they have access to their victims.
"Perpetrators go to the environment that allows them to work with children without anyone suspecting them," he said. "That's why you find them in schools, Little League, Hollywood talent agencies and church groups."
Weiss is being held at the Men's Central Jail on $300,000 bail. He sent an email to his remaining clients letting them know that he's dissolving his agency.
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