Adult film star Ron Jeremy was accused Monday of additional sex assault charges for allegedly attacking at least 17 women in Los Angeles. File Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/UPI |
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Aug. 31 (UPI) -- Los Angeles County prosecutors on Monday filed new sexual assault charges going back to 2004 against adult film star Ron Jeremy.
Jeremy, 67, pleaded not guilty Monday, as he did in June to earlier charges. The former porn star is now accused of an additional 20 charges, including committing an additional eight rapes of 12 women and participating in lewd conduct with a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the total number of alleged victims has risen to 17.
The L.A. County Sheriff's Department conducted a two-year investigation. After Jeremy's arrest in June more women came forward, which led to prosecutors amending the original complaint.
Jeremy, born Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, has been held in jail since his arrest on $6.6 million bail. His lawyers have asked the court to lower the porn star's bond amount.
The new charges brought by Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey are connected with the West Hollywood Rainbow Bar & Grill, a rock and roll bar that Jeremy frequented in the early 2000s, and one alleged assault happened in the bar's parking lot.
Jeremy was a fixture at the Rainbow on the Sunset Strip for decades, even appearing in Tripadvisor reviews. Prosecutors allege Jeremy leveraged his celebrity status to sexually assault women when they were drunk.
A YouTube video published in 2017 claimed Jeremy attacked and took advantage of multiple women in the adult film industry, and Rolling Stone published interviews with women who alleged Jeremy had sexually attacked them.
Jeremy initially accused of raping a 25-year-old woman at a West Hollywood home in May 2014, sexually assaulting two women, ages 33 and 46, on separate incidents in 2017 and raping a 30-year-old woman in July 2019.
Prosecutors allege in new charges he assaulted the 15-year-old girl at a party in 2004 and assaulted a woman on New Year's Day in 2020, among other charges.
The L.A. County Sheriff's Department conducted a two-year investigation which led to more women coming forward and prosecutors amending the original complaint.
Jeremy is due back in court in late October. If convicted of all the crimes of which he's accused, Jeremy could be sentenced to 250 years in prison.
Jeremy was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as having appeared in more than 2,200 pornographic films. The 2001 documentary "Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy" covered his career.
