American actor Danny Masterson, a prominent member of the Church of Scientology known for his role in the series “That ’70s Show”, was convicted of raping two women by a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday.
The 47-year-old actor was imprisoned after the hearing, pending his sentence to be determined by a judge on August 4. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
Three women, also Scientologists, accused him of raping them at his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003.
The jurors agreed with two of them and did not reach the unanimity necessary to pronounce a verdict on the third.
During the trial, prosecutors found that the actor “drugged and raped each of these victims” and called for “holding him accountable”.
This case, triggered in 2017 in the wake of accusations against ex-producer Harvey Weinstein which caused the explosion of the #MeToo movement, also raised questions about the role of the Church of Scientology.
Two of the complainants notably assured that the organization, very well established in Los Angeles, had dissuaded them from contacting the police.
Mr. Masterson’s defense insisted that the plaintiffs’ story has evolved over the years, and suggested that bias against Scientology may have motivated the lawsuit.
Asked by AFP, the Church of Scientology did not immediately respond.
At a previous trial in November, a different jury had refused to rule, unable to reach unanimity.
Danny Masterson rose to prominence in the late 1990s for his role in the ‘That ’70s Show’ series alongside Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.
He also most recently appeared alongside the latter in the Netflix series “The Ranch”, but was let go in 2017 after Los Angeles police confirmed they were investigating sexual assault charges against him.
After the actor’s arrest in June 2020, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said it had dropped two other sexual assault charges against him, due to lack of evidence and because the facts were time-barred. .