Actor Danny Masterson — who was sentenced earlier this year to 30 years to life for raping two women at his Hollywood Hills home about two decades ago — was moved from a Los Angeles County jail to a state prison in Central California Wednesday.
Masterson, 47, is now being held at North Kern State Prison in Delano, according to records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The actor — best known for his role on “That ’70s Show” — has remained behind bars since he was convicted May 31 of two counts of rape by force or fear.
At the actor’s sentencing in September, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo told Masterson that she knew he is “sitting here steadfastly on your claims of innocence.”
“Mr. Masterson, you are not the victim here,” the judge said, telling him that his actions had taken away another person’s voice and choice and that the victims each reported the rapes to someone shortly afterward.
The judge called Masterson’s actions “criminal,” and subsequently called him back into court to order him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life upon his release from state prison.
While convicting Masterson on two charges, jurors deadlocked on another rape charge involving a third alleged victim, who was a former longtime girlfriend of Masterson. Prosecutors announced in July that they would not retry the actor on that charge, and it was dismissed July 11.
Just before imposing the sentence, the judge heard emotional victim impact statements from all three women, who described long-standing effects of the trauma they have said they experienced.
“You relish in hurting women,” one of the women, identified in court as “Jane Doe 2,” said in directly addressing Masterson. “You lived your life behind a mask as two people. But the real one sits here …”
She said the world is “safer” with Masterson behind bars and believes that it never dawned on him that he would be “held accountable.”
“I forgive you,” she told the actor, saying that his “sickness” is no longer her burden.
The other victim, identified as “Jane Doe 1,” said she wished that she had “reported him sooner” to Los Angeles police.
“I knew he belonged behind bars,” she told the judge.
In a statement read on her behalf in court, Masterson’s ex-girlfriend wrote that she entered the relationship as an “extremely naive” and “trusting” 18-year-old.
The jury was the second to hear the case against Masterson, who was charged in 2020 with three counts of rape by force or fear involving the three women on separate occasions.
During the first trial last year, jurors leaned in favor of acquittal on all three counts — voting 10-2 on one count, 8-4 on another and 7-5 on the third — but they were unable to reach a unanimous decision, leading to a mistrial being declared in November 2022.
Masterson is appealing his conviction.
In a statement outside court after the sentencing, one of Masterson’s attorneys, Shawn Holley, said a team of appellate lawyers has been reviewing the trial’s transcripts and has identified “a number of significant evidentiary and constitutional issues which they will address in briefs to both state and federal appellate courts.”
“Mr. Masterson did not commit the crimes for which he has been convicted and we and the appellate lawyers — the best and the brightest in the country — are confident that these convictions will be overturned,” Holley said.
In December 2017, Netflix announced that Masterson had been fired from the Emmy-winning scripted comedy “The Ranch” amid sexual assault allegations.
The actor said then he was “very disappointed,” and added that “it seems as if you are presumed guilty the moment you are accused.” He also “denied the outrageous allegations” and said he looked forward to “clearing my name once and for all.”