Jeffrey Epstein accuser Alicia Arden demands investigation into her 1997 report of sexual battery

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Days after the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell, actress Alicia Arden is asking police in California why they seemingly ignored her claims of sexual battery at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein in 1997.

Arden has previously claimed that she met the late disgraced financier at Shutters on the Beach, a hotel in Santa Monica, for what she believed to be a business meeting about becoming a Victoria’s Secret model. However, upon arrival at the hotel, she found Epstein underdressed for the business meeting and was more interested in groping her than improving her career.

During a press conference Monday, Arden reiterated her experience. According to People, she noted that Epstein said to her, “Let me manhandle you for a second” before forcefully pulling up her shirt and pulling her skirt down to grab at her buttocks. When Epstein was distracted by a phone call, she says she managed to slip away and headed for the door. She alleged that the now-convicted sex offender, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail last August, offered her a $100 bill.

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"I told him, 'Jeffrey, I'm not a prostitute,'" she recalled. "'I want to be in the Victoria's Secrets catalogue.'"

Alicia Arden is demanding answers from the Santa Monica Police Department after she claims they failed to investigate her claims against Jeffrey Epstein in 1997. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

Arden says she filed a police report about the incident days later but says she was never contacted by detectives with the Santa Monica Police Department. Now, with the help of her attorney, Gloria Allred, she’s looking for answers.

“We'd like to know, first, what happened. Was there an investigation? Was there not an investigation," Allred told reporters (via USA Today). "I don't think Alicia should have to live with the unanswered question... Why was it apparently disregarded? Did they interview Mr. Epstein? Did he decline to be interviewed? Did they take his words against hers? Or did they not do anything?"

In 2019, the Associated Press reported that notes from a detective working the case stated that Arden did not want to press charges against Epstein, but merely wanted him warned by authorities about his behavior. However, she strongly denies saying anything of the sort.

Police also alleged that Epstein was interviewed about the incident and that his account differed from Arden’s. However, police declined to tell the Associated Press at the time how the accounts differed.

If the victim tells the detective they do not wish to prosecute, then the detective will close the case,” a statement from the police said at the time. “In this case, the victim advised the detective she did not wish to prosecute so there was no point in presenting it to the City Attorney for review.”

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Arden’s acting credits include TV’s “Baywatch,” “General Hospital” and “Red Shoe Diaries.” She’s also appeared in multiple movies throughout her career. She has been speaking out about her 1997 experience since news of Epstein’s crimes became the subject of intense public scrutiny. Epstein died at age 66 while in lockup awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell, the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell, was indicted on multiple charges in connection to an alleged sex-trafficking operation that brought girls – some as young as 14 – to Epstein's Manhattan home.

Jeffrey Epstein's alleged criminal cohort, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been taken into custody. (Getty Images)

Prosecutors alleged that Maxwell, between 1994-1997, "assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18."

They added, "Moreover, in an effort to conceal her crimes, Maxwell repeatedly lied when questioned about her conduct, including in relation to some of the minor victims... when providing testimony under oath in 2016."

Several of Epstein's victims have described Maxwell as his chief enabler, recruiting and grooming young girls for abuse. She has denied wrongdoing and called claims against her “absolute rubbish.”

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The accused madam was taken into custody Thursday morning in Bradford, N.H., after purportedly hiding out in Paris, France.

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace and Marta Dhanis contributed to this report.