The New York Police Department has said that it is gathering evidence as it builds a case against disgraced Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein. Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said that authorities had interviewed Paz de la Huerta, an actress who accuses Weinstein of twice raping her in 2010.

Boyce said that De le Huerta's story was credible partly because of her "ability to articulate each and every minute of the crime, where she was, where they met, where this happened and what he did". He also said that detectives had corroborated parts of her account, the Associated Press reported.

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"If this person was still in new York, and it was recent, we'd go right away and make the arrest. No doubt," Boyce said. "But we're talking about a 7-year-old case. And we have to move forward gathering evidence first."

Speaking to Vanity Fair, De Le Huerta said that Weinstein insisted on having a drink at her apartment in New York after offering her a ride home from a hotel in October 2010. "Things got very uncomfortable very fast," De la Huerta told the magazine before alleging that Weinstein forced himself on her.

De la Huerta said that the second alleged incident occured in December 2010, saying Weinstein turned up at her apartment after she had been drinking and was not in a condition to give consent.

Police in the UK are also reportedly investigating allegations from seven separate women concerning Harvey Weinstein, the BBC said on Tuesday, 31 October. The earliest reported allegations are of incidents in the 1980s.

Weinstein has faced a slew of accusations of sexual harrassment and assault since a report in the New York Times detailed several allegations. Weinstein has since been fired from the company he co-founded and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts.

Weinstein has previously denied all allegations of non-consensual sex acts.

Harvey Weinstein