NYPD Officially Reopening A 2004 Sexual Assault Case Against Harvey Weinstein

The allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Harvey Weinstein go back decades. On Thursday, the New York Police Department confirmed that it is investigating a possible sexual assault case into the disgraced film mogul, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

People further reports that the criminal investigation stems from a 2004 allegation of sexual assault. The victim is not named, however, a bombshell piece by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker alleges that Lucia Evans accused Weinstein of rape in 2004.

The statute of limitations for serious felony sex crimes is 21 years in New York state, according to RAINN's database.

Refinery29 reached out to the NYPD for comment and received the following statement: "Based on information referenced in published news reports, the NYPD is conducting a review to determine if there are any additional complaints relating to the Harvey Weinstein matter. No filed complaints have been identified as of this time and as always, the NYPD encourages anyone who may have information pertaining to this matter to call the CrimeStoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS."

The aforementioned New Yorker story is the subject of some scrutiny from media critics, though not for any fault of Farrow's. Farrow is a contributor at NBC, but NBC did not publish his investigative story, after being told that it did not contain enough reporting. NBC President Noah Oppenheim said that "we reached a point over the summer where we, as an organization, didn’t feel that we had all the elements that we needed to air [the story]."

Farrow obtained permission to secure another publisher for his piece, and took it to the New Yorker. He responded to criticism that his story was not in proper reportable condition for NBC by telling Rachel Maddow that "I walked into the door at The New Yorker with an explosive reportable piece that should have been public earlier. And immediately [the] New Yorker recognized that, and it is not accurate to say that it was not reportable."

The fallout from these bombshell reports just keeps coming.