Hollywood actor Gabriel Olds, who has appeared in dozens of supporting television and film roles over the past several decades, was arrested in Los Angeles Wednesday morning and charged with seven counts of sexual assault, according to local authorities, who said they are seeking out other possible victims or witnesses in a series of alleged attacks that date back to over a decade ago.
Olds, 52, was taken into custody in the Crestwood Hills area of Los Angeles after the L.A. Superior Court issued a warrant for his arrest for $3.5 million in July. The district attorney had charged him with seven counts of sexual assault after a 41-year-old woman reported that he’d raped her in her L.A. home; following the woman’s report, two other women came forward to police saying Olds had raped them in incidents dating back to 2013, according to a press release from the LAPD.
Charges against Olds include rape, rape of an unconscious person, sodomy, assault with intent to commit rape and injury on a girlfriend or significant other.
Gabriel Olds (LAPD)
LAPD
Olds, who recently appeared in the Oscar-winning The Eyes of Tammy Faye, in which he portrayed evangelist and 700 Club founder Pat Robertson, is a New York native who attended Yale University before finding success as an actor. He was cast in one-off roles on series such as JAG, CSI, and Six Feet Under and a variety of lesser-seen films before landing the Robertson role opposite Jessica Chastain.
Police say that Olds used all of these aspects of his life to charm women and lure them into a “false sense of security” before turning violent. They said that each woman interviewed, some of whom said they met Olds on dating applications, reported the same tactics.
“We heard the same story, again and again,” Detective Brent Hopkins, who is a Special Assault Section supervisor, said in the LAPD’s release. “Mr. Olds started off charming, but then used brutal violence to carry out these rapes. Some of these survivors suffered in silence for years before finding the strength to speak up. Now that he’s off the streets, we want to make sure everyone can be heard.”
In addition, police say they located two more alleged victims who said that they experienced assaults that were less violent than the initial three had reported. Investigators are now seeking more potential victims, the LAPD said, as Olds’ work as an actor had him traveling frequently.
Police are seeking assistance from members of the public and are asking any victims or witnesses to contact the LAPD’s West Division, Special Assault Section.
An email sent on Thursday by The Hollywood Reporter to a representative for Olds seeking comment was not immediately returned. Whether Olds has hired an attorney to speak on his behalf was not apparent at the time of publication and no case number for Olds’ arrest has yet been issued by the LAPD.
