The Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed to USA TODAY that it has opened a criminal investigation against Charlie Sheen. It involves alleged threats he made against his ex-fiancée, according to her lawyer.
Officer Matthew Ludwig, a spokesman in the LAPD media affairs office, confirmed that a criminal investigation of Sheen was opened and is still ongoing, but had few details.
He said officers from the LAPD's Van Nuys division opened a case on March 31 and turned over the results to detectives and officers on the LAPD Threat Management team, who are still investigating.
Ludwig said he could not release any information on what the investigation involves and the identity of the accuser in the case is confidential.
But David Ring, a lawyer for Scottine Rossi, who once was engaged to the former Two and a Half Men star, confirmed Sheen is being investigated for allegedly threatening to have his client killed, and that she is so fearful she obtained an emergency protective order against him last week.
Sheen has a history of turbulent relations with the women in his life, and his problems only increased after he acknowledged in 2015 that he is HIV positive and had been for years before he told anyone.
Rossi, one of the women Sheen claims "extorted" him for millions after they learned of his HIV-positive status, is suing him, claiming he reneged on a $1 million settlement and also forced her to abort her baby because of fear the child would be HIV-positive, too.
Rossi, 26, an adult-film star who performs under the name Brett Ross, was engaged to Sheen from November 2013 to October 2014. She sued Sheen in December, claiming assault and battery, emotional distress, false imprisonment and negligence, according to documents received by USA TODAY.
Ring, of the Los Angeles law firm Taylor & Ring, represents Rossi in her suit against Sheen over his HIV status, which is now in private arbitration.
He says Rossi learned only last week about a tape of Sheen speaking by phone to an unidentified person, uttering threats against Rossi, when she saw a story about the tape on Radar.com, which in turn got a copy of the tape from the National Enquirer.
Rossi did not make the tape, Ring told USA TODAY. He also does not know the identity of the person Sheen was addressing on the tape or who recorded him.
“But (Rossi) takes it extremely seriously because she knows him and knows his personality and behavior," he explained. "It’s not just his typical bluster. I heard (the tape) and it’s legitimate. I know the context, and there are things he said on the tape that only he would know because we were in settlement talks at the time (over the lawsuit).”
He said the LAPD is taking it seriously, too.
“There’s an active investigation ongoing and they’re trying to obtain the full tape recording,” Ring said. “They view it as an important piece of evidence."
Ludwig said police obtained a search warrant in the case, which appears to be aimed at the tabloid media.
"We believe the search warrant is illegal and violates federal and state law prohibiting the use of search warrants against media companies who are reporting news and information," Dylan Howard, editor in chief of The National Enquirer and editorial director of RadarOnline.com, wrote in a statement to the Associated Press.
There was no immediate comment from Sheen's publicist.
Martin Singer, a leading Hollywood celebrity attorney who has represented the likes of Bill Cosby in the past, is Sheen’s lawyer. He did not immediately return a call for comment.
