L.A. County prosecutors have filed an additional 20 counts of sexual assault and groping against adult film actor Ron Jeremy on Monday – including a charge of lewd conduct with a minor.
The additions come after dozens of women have contacted law enforcement in recent weeks following Jeremy’s initial arrest in June.
Jeremy now faces 28 criminal counts in Los Angeles, including five counts of rape and six counts of sexual battery.
The Sheriff’s Department says it has interviewed 50 additional women who made allegations against Jeremy since his arrest.
Eleven of those women are now part of the amended criminal complaint.
Some women had their claims not result in criminal charges, but authorities say they could still testify at Jeremy’s trial as “prior bad acts witnesses.” Such witnesses, who can testify to similar but uncharged criminal behavior, played a key role in Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s conviction on rape charges in New York.
The new allegations occurred between the years of 2004 to 2020, prosecutors say, and include an allegation that Jeremy sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at a party in Santa Clarita. The most recent alleged incident took place on New Year’s Day of this year.
Prosecutors have charged Jeremy with forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual battery. They allege he used his celebrity status to get close access to women, whom he took advantage of while they were drunk.
Jeremy has pleaded not guilty to the new charges, according to his defense attorney Stu Goldfarb.
He is due back in court in October.
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