Topics: Celebrity, Crime, Film and TV, Game of Thrones, True crime, US News
Game of Thrones actor Joseph Gatt attended court after being arrested for allegedly engaging in 'online sexually explicit communication' with a minor.
The 51-year-old was arrested on 6 April last year after his home was searched by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
Yesterday (2 October), Gatt - best known for his role as Thenn Warg in HBO hit series Game Of Thrones - appeared in a Los Angeles court in relation to two charges.
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Gatt's house was searched by police after LAPD's Juvenile Division, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force received a tip-off that the actor had 'engaged in online sexually explicit communication' with a minor located in another US state, over the internet.
Gatt was later charged with two offences, the first, 'contact with a minor for sexual offence' and the second, felony possession of an assault weapon.
The 51-year-old has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Gatt was later released on $5,000 bail, banned from using social media, possessing pornography and unsupervised time with minors.
He released a statement addressing the charges in a post to X - formerly known as Twitter - which read: "I obviously want to address the absolutely horrifying and completely untrue allegations recently levelled against me.
"They are 100 percent categorically wrong and reckless. I have confirmed errors and misleading information in today’s press release.
"I am fully cooperating with police and LAPD to get to the bottom of this. I look forward to clearing my good name. Thank you to all my friends and supporters who know that this is untrue and understand for legal reasons I cannot comment further on social media."
Gatt turned up to court yesterday accompanied by his girlfriend Mercy Malik.
Judge Enrique Monguia adjourned the hearing until 4 December, 2023, after prosecutor Michael Fern told him that 'additional discovery is needed' for the case to move forward.
At the time of Gatt's arrest, the ICAC Task Force said it was 'seeking to identify any additional victims'.
It said via a release: "The public is reminded that any suspected inappropriate contact with a minor or knowledge of child sexual abuse material on the Internet, should be immediately reported to their local law enforcement agency or to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at (800) 843-5678, or missing kids.com.
"The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will forward the information to the appropriate law enforcement agency nationwide."
Anyone with any information regarding the allegations against Gatt has been encouraged to contact Detective Denos Amarantos at 562-624-4027. If you want to submit an anonymous tip, you can call the LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
