D.A. won’t prosecute Tyler Grasham, former Hollywood agent accused of sexual abuse

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has declined to prosecute former Hollywood agent Tyler Grasham after felony complaints by four people who alleged he raped or otherwise sexually abused them.

A district attorney’s report completed Wednesday showed that the accusers ranged in age from 15 to their 20s when they were alleged to have been sexually abused by Grasham, who is 52.

In the report, released Thursday, prosecutors cited an expired statute of limitations in two of the cases, and insufficient evidence for felony charges in the others.

Grasham was a longtime talent agent for the Beverly Hills-based Agency for the Performing Arts, or APA. The agency fired him in October after filmmaker Blaise Godbe Lipman publicly accused Grasham of sexually assaulting him when he was a teenage actor more than a decade earlier.

The Times interviewed eight young male actors and film industry professionals who alleged they were sexually assaulted or harassed by Grasham. The accusers said that Grasham attempted to use his power as an agent to coerce them into sex and keep them from speaking out.

Grasham has not responded to the allegations, and he did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Thursday afternoon.

The D.A.’s report detailed four criminal complaints alleging sexual abuse dating back nearly two decades.

One accuser said that in 1999, when he was 15, Grasham “orally copulated” with him after a night of drinking at a party in the agent’s house. The complainant told investigators he felt “pressured, awkward and forced” because of Grasham’s age, and reported the alleged incident last November after seeing other accusations against the agent in the news.

Another man said that he was 17 in 2000 when Grasham, his agent, took him out to dinner. The accuser said he became intoxicated and spent the night at Grasham’s home, where he woke up to being penetrated by the agent. The alleged victim said he “told [Grasham] to stop and tried to push him off, but was unable to do so,” according to the district attorney’s report.

Both cases could not be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations, the report stated.

According to the report, another accuser who is now 25 said that in 2016, Grasham made an unwanted sexual advance by putting his hands down the man’s pants and touching his genitals.

The district attorney’s office said that the evidence did not show “unlawful restraint” necessary for a felony charge. It recommended that the case be referred to the L.A. city attorney’s office for misdemeanor consideration.

The details of the complaint match those of Lucas Ozarowski, who previously spoke to The Times. “I didn’t speak out for him to lose his job or go to prison,” Ozarowski told The Times on Thursday. “I just wanted it known … in case others were in danger of it.”

A fourth person said that on two occasions last year, including one in which he was under the influence of Xanax and marijuana-laced blueberries, Grasham anally penetrated him despite being told to stop. The complainant told investigators he “believed [Grasham] would tarnish his image if he didn’t comply.”

The district attorney’s report said there was not enough evidence to prove the man did not consent to sexual acts.

Grasham may still face legal trouble in England. A former theater student, Jack Edwards, told The Times in November that Grasham sexually abused him in a London hotel room in 2010, when he was 15. Edwards then filed a sexual assault complaint with London’s Metropolitan Police.

UPDATES:

4:40 p.m.: This article was update with additional details from the district attorney’s report.

This article was originally published at 2:30 p.m.