Posted on 03/02/2020 4:42:59 PM PST by EdnaMode
Oscar winner Timothy Hutton, currently the star of the freshman Fox drama “Almost Family,” has been accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in 1983. According to a report published online by BuzzFeed News, Sera Johnston, who last year filed a criminal complaint against Hutton with the Vancouver Police Department, said she was assaulted by the actor while he was in town to shoot the film “Iceman.”
Johnston told the site that she was just 14 when she and two friends were invited to Hutton’s hotel room, where she said she was raped and assaulted by both Hutton (who was then in his 20s) and one of his friends. Johnston, now 50, said she didn’t come forward until after the #MeToo movement gained strength because she didn’t think anyone would believe her.
Hutton denied the allegations to BuzzFeed, and in a statement to the site contended he never met Johnson, and called her story “fabricated,” with “patently false, scurrilous, and defamatory statements.” (The writers of the BuzzFeed article, Kate Aurthur and Adam B. Vary, currently work for Variety.)
In a statement released by Hutton after BuzzFeed published the story on Monday, the actor said: “For the past two-and-a-half years, I have been the target of multiple extortion attempts by a woman named Sera Dale Johnston to extract millions of dollars from me. She threatened that if I did not meet her demands, she would go to the press with a false allegation that I sexually assaulted her 37 years ago in Canada. I never assaulted Ms. Johnston.
“Today, BuzzFeed chose to publish Ms. Johnston’s false story. BuzzFeed knew the truth because they were provided with documented evidence. What’s really going on here is that Ms. Johnston’s extortion attempts failed. She then decided to follow through on her threat to go to the press with her false story. When I became aware of this, I went to the FBI, signed a sworn statement, and filed a criminal complaint against Ms. Johnston for extortion. I will not stop fighting to expose this story for what it is — a failed extortion attempt based on something that never happened.”
In the story, BuzzFeed tracked down one of the two friends who were with Johnston that night; the woman, who hadn’t been in touch with Johnston for decades, corroborated her account of them visiting Hutton’s hotel room. That friend, only identified by her initials, C.B., signed an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, backing up her recollections.
BuzzFeed talked to five other people who confirmed that Johnston had told them about the Hutton incident over the years.
Johnston’s mother, who worked as a set decorator, told BuzzFeed that at the time they considered going to the police, but feared she might be blacklisted from the film industry. She said she regrets the decision now.
After acquiring a lawyer, Johnston entered arbitration with Hutton’s legal team; she initially agreed to a $135,000 settlement, but later changed her mind when she realized Hutton would be able to completely deny any wrongdoing. Complicating matters, an ex-boyfriend of Johnston’s reached out to Hutton’s friend (the other man whom she said assaulted her that night), offering to broker a settlement. That gave Hutton’s team an opening to question Johnston’s credibility.
In the years since that night, Johnston told BuzzFeed, that what happened “has colored every area of my life.”
Besides Hutton’s statement, his camp also released a statement from his defamation counsel, Tom Clare, who said he has sent BuzzFeed a legal retraction demand. He claimed that BuzzFeed, “facing serious financial struggles and pressure to attract readers, has shamefully disregarded the facts and allowed itself to be used by Ms. Johnston,” and also said the site “ignored hard evidence that Ms. Johnston lied about participating in extortion attempts and turned a blind eye to critical inconsistencies in Ms. Johnston’s story.
“We will be sending BuzzFeed a legal retraction demand. If BuzzFeed wrongfully refuses to retract the article, Tim is prepared to take any and all necessary steps, including the filing of a defamation lawsuit, to clear his name and to hold BuzzFeed and Ms. Johnston accountable for their reckless and self-serving efforts to destroy Tim’s reputation and career.”
A spokesperson for BuzzFeed said the outlet stands by the piece: “BuzzFeed News’ reporting on the alleged rape of a 14 year-old girl by Timothy Hutton is based on interviews with the alleged victim, the account of a woman who was with her that evening, and five separate people who were told of the assault at the time. BuzzFeed News stands unequivocally by our reporting.”
I always remember Tim from the movie Ordinary People which he won an Academy Award at an early age. He dedicated the Award to his father Tim whom died of cancer at the early age of 45 two years prior. His Father was US Army and later an Actor. One of his most memorable roles was in John Wayne's Vietnam War movie Green Beret's were he died a gruesome death in a trip wire / Punji stick impalement. He also stared in the TV Series Ellery Queen which only lasted a year 75/76.
None of that means he was a leftist.
So who did he piss off?
“None of that means he was a leftist”
Nope, wasn’t trying to imply it. I shouldn’t have tied my comments to a previous post.
But he is a leftist and a proud Hollyweird Resistor.
He’s made no secret of it. It probably helps him get more work.
I did a search and couldn’t find anything.
Got video? No?
Got audio? No?
Got photos? No???
Then it didn’t happen.
PROVE IT.
Enough. We, as a society, have gone to great lengths to try to protect women from predators. But now we are at a point where any woman can destroy any man with just an accusation.
Girls need to report incidents immediately afterwards, or at most a week later, in order to be credible.
I don’t care if he is a H-wood leftist. This is disgusting to bring this up after nearly 40 years. No way to prove it did or didn’t happen.
What in the world would mom be thinking a bunch of 20 year old guys would want with a couple of 14 year old girls in their hotel room in the first place?
Accuses a multi-millionaire of rape that supposedly happened 37 years ago. Unh hunh. Sure.
I believe there’s an especially warm place in hell reserved for people who make false accusations.
All I know about Timothy Hutton is that he’s a pretty good actor.
But a 37-year-old accusation just lacks inherent credibility — no physical evidence, for starters.
Feminism has produced a lot of emotionally overwrought females. I’ve worked with a few. So far, I’ve avoided ever being accused of anything.
But in today’s sick culture, every man needs to be aware of such threats.
High school is a good place to start developing a defensive game. In fact, I know people my age (early 60s) who emotionally are still stuck in adolescence.
When I was young, I was always a perfect gentleman to the women I dated. But it’s not hard to imagine some crazed female deciding to accuse me of wrongdoing because she had a crush on the high school quarterback, who never noticed her.
So, she decides to get revenge by dishing dirt on any male in her general vicinity. Never mind the fact that the blocking fullback had a crush on her, but she never noticed him.
After all, women want what they want when they want it. And that means alpha males. Nothing but the quarterback will do. Blocking fullbacks need not apply, to say nothing of scholarly future newspaper reporters (my ultimate destiny).
Sounds crazy? Absolutely. But I’ve seen more than a few decent guys brought down by dating or, worse, marrying, abusive women.
“Shit’s outta hand.”
__________________________
LOL
Is that the same as ‘sh*t’s out of control?’
If it is, I really do need to remember the quote!
“So this woman thought putting her job security ahead of justice for her daughter was a good thing?”
__________________________________________________
Just like many ‘Good Catholics’ would put the ‘good of the parish/Catholic Church’ above the protection and prevention of sexual assault upon their sons and daughters.
Happened allllllll the time. Probably still happens, unfortunately.
Not just in the Catholic Church, mind you. They, unfortunately, have a lot more muscle to use putting pressure on the families.
Good Turk182 reference.
::What in the world would mom be thinking a bunch of 20 year old guys would want with a couple of 14 year old girls in their hotel room in the first place?::
~~~~~~~
Very true.
I remember Tim from that movie too. Great job as an actor.
Foolish statement. Apparently you have no idea about the trauma of being raped or diddled with. Sad!
There was a time when a female would never meet a male unaccompanied in a hotel room, not if they weren’t married. Or possibly a prostitute, I suppose. It just wasn’t done.
The Brady Bunch television show was a big deal because it depicted for the first time mom and dad sleeping in the same bed. Colleges and Universities had separate dorms. There were chaperones for dates.
So I don’t understand what the problem is here. It seems like the leftists - who swept away all those “uptight” and fuddy-duddy conventions - in favor of “free love” and “If it feels good, do it” etc, are now in the Neo-Puritan mode now that they are in charge.
What did she think was going to happen meeting him in a motel room? And now forty years later, decides it was “rape”?
Agree.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.