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Marilyn Manson. | Photo by Kmeron (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Tuesday it has officially turned over its investigation of sexual assault allegations against singer Marilyn Manson to the District Attorney’s Office for consideration of possible criminal charges.
The Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Bureau completed a 19-month investigation into Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, according to the department. The Special Victims Bureau investigates sexual and physical abuse cases of children and felonious sexual assaults involving adult victims.
Manson, 53, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the face of assault allegations brought by several women.
His attorney, Howard King, issued a statement last year saying, “Mr. Warner vehemently denies any and all claims of sexual assault or abuse of anyone. These lurid claims against my client have three things in common — they are all false, alleged to have taken place more than a decade ago and part of a coordinated attack by former partners and associates of Mr. Warner who have weaponized the otherwise mundane details of his personal life and their consensual relationships into fabricated horror stories.”
Sheriff’s detectives in November served a search warrant at Manson’s West Hollywood apartment.
Warner was sued in April of 2021 by “Game of Thrones” actress Esmé Bianco for alleged sexual assault and sexual battery in what she described as a series of violent encounters.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleged that Warner had used “fraudulent offers of movie and music video roles to convince Ms. Bianco to travel to Los Angeles, whereupon Mr. Warner then made threats of force and performed violent sexual acts on Ms. Bianco to which she did not consent.”
According to the lawsuit, Bianco was invited to Los Angeles from the United Kingdom by Warner with the promise of work, and after moving into the Goth rocker’s West Hollywood apartment in 2011, she was not allowed to eat, sleep or leave without his permission.
“Mr. Warner raped Ms. Bianco in or around May 2011,” the suit alleges.
King issued a statement to City News Service last year denying Bianco’s allegations.
“These claims are provably false,” King said. “To be clear, this suit was only filed after my client refused to be shaken down by Ms. Bianco and her lawyer and give in to their outrageous financial demands based on conduct that simply never occurred. We will vigorously contest these allegations in court and are confident that we will prevail.”
In February of last year, actress Evan Rachel Wood accused Warner of sexual and physical abuse during their relationship, which lasted from January 2007 until August 2010. His record label, Loma Vista Recordings, dropped him following Wood’s accusation.
Warner denied Wood’s allegations in a social media post. He fired back in court in March of this year, suing Wood and alleging she and another woman caused him emotional distress by encouraging other women to make false accusations of sexual abuse against him.
In a video posted online last week, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said his office was prepared to review the Manson case once it was submitted by the sheriff’s department.
“Once we have received the case, it will be carefully evaluated by experienced prosecutors to determine if it is appropriate to file charges at this time,” he said.
