Roman Polanski Arrested for 1978 Warrant for Sex with a Minor

Film director Roman Polanski, 76, whose pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered in 1969 by the Charles Manson murder gang, was arrested in Switzerland Saturday on a 1978 U.S. arrest warrant for sex with a 13-year-old. Zurich Cantonal Police spokesman Stefan Oberlin said Polanski’s arrest had been carried out on instructions from the Federal Justice Department in Berne.

Polanski was arrested in the United States in the late 1970s and charged with giving drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl and having unlawful sex with her at a photographic shoot at Jack Nicholson’s Hollywood home. Maintaining the girl was sexually experienced and had consented, Polanski spent 42 days in prison undergoing psychiatric tests but fled the country before being sentenced.

Polanski had been due to receive a prize for his life’s work at the Zurich Film Festival on Sunday evening, opening a retrospective of his film career but was arrested on arrival at Zurich airport the night before. Calling Polanski, known for his films “Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” and “The Pianist,” for which he won Best Director Oscar ” in 2003, one of the greatest film directors of our time, the festival directors said they had “received this news with great consternation and shock.”

Polanski’s Los Angeles agent and the U.S. embassy in Zurich were not immediately available for comment.

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