A model and actress who says Jeffrey Epstein groped her two decades ago slammed California police on Monday, saying she told Santa Monica authorities in 1997 that the disgraced financier had sexually assaulted her. “If they would have taken me more seriously than they did, it could have helped all these girls,” Alicia Arden said. “It could have been stopped.” Arden alleged that during what she believed was a modeling interview for the Victoria’s Secret catalog, Epstein asked her to undress and began groping her buttocks. After pushing him away, Arden said Epstein then gave her $100, which she took on her way out the door because she needed gas money. Arden said she filed a police report the next day, but never heard back from investigators. Santa Monica police said a detective wrote in his notes that Epstein was questioned after the complaint was made but gave a conflicting statement, and Arden did not want to press charges. Arden denies that claim.

“The fact that they didn’t do anything, and they discredited me, is just a stab to my heart,” Arden said. Epstein, who officials say killed himself in his jail cell this month, was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, several in his mansions in Florida and New York.