Brooklyn Eagle (October 17, 1942)
Errol Flynn faces charge by girl, 17
Hollywood, California (UP) –
Errol Flynn returned to the heroics of the soundstages today under $1,000 bail, charged with criminal assault upon Betty Hansen, 17-year-old movie-struck waitress, who quit her job for the chance to meet him.
She accused him of taking her upstairs after a dinner party in the Bel Air mansion of wealthy sportsman Fred McEvoy and there engaging in what District Attorney John F. Dockweiler called statutory rape. Three other studio workers, held with Flynn for arraignment on the same charges next Friday, admitted having had illicit relations with her.
Flynn said Miss Hansen’s story left him dumbfounded.
He said:
I hardly knew her. We exchanged only a few words when we were introduced at dinner. I was with Mr. McEvoy all evening and I left before any of the other guests.
Miss Hansen told her story first to the grand jurymen, who wouldn’t believe her, and then to the district attorney, who did – the sordid tale of a high school girl willing to go to any lengths to become a movie actress.
Miss Hansen said she gladly submitted to the men she accused, because she believed that might help her become a picture star.