A timeline of the sexual assault allegations against Danny Masterson
That '70s Show alum Danny Masterson will stand trial on October 11 after rape allegations first came to light in 2017
This week marks the beginning of the trial of Danny Masterson, the That ’70s Show alum charged with three counts of rape. Accusations of assault have followed the actor for years now, impacting his career—he was fired from the Netflix series The Ranch—and implicating the Church of Scientology, of which he has been a longtime member.
These accusations first became public in 2017, after Tony Ortega, a journalist who has specialized in reporting on Scientology, shared a detailed account of the allegations against Masterson. Ortega wrote that, like Masterson, the accusers were Scientologists and felt “pressured by the Church of Scientology not to contact police or go public with their accusations.” (One of the victims did in fact file a police report in 2004 but was contradicted by other witnesses, reportedly fellow Scientologists, and the case was closed.) The women were inspired by Leah Remini’s docuseries Scientology And The Aftermath to come forward, leading the Los Angeles Police Department to open (or re-open) an investigation against the actor. In March of that year, the LAPD confirmed that “three women have come forward and disclosed that they were sexually assaulted by Masterson during the early 2000s.”
In the months following, the investigation reportedly garnered “overwhelming” evidence, including “audiotapes, emails sent to and from Scientology officers at the time the alleged rapes happened, forensic computer evidence, and a threatening handwritten letter Masterson sent to one of the alleged victims,” as well as two more additional accusers coming forward. However, the investigation “inexplicably stalled” in late 2017. According to Ortega’s report, one of the survivors claimed that the LAPD had been “compromised” by the Church of Scientology. Remini told the reporter that her experience with the department “has not been good,” recalling her meeting with the lead detective on the case: “I pointed out to her that there was a framed picture of a Scientologist on their wall, actor Michael Peña. Do you know what that says to a young Scientologist who comes here to seek justice?” A later report from The Daily Beast highlighted the LAPD’s fundraising relationship partnership with the Church through the Police Activities League, an organization with which Masterson was reportedly involved.