Porn star Ron Jeremy was indicted this week on at least 30 sexual assault counts involving 20 victims going back at least 20 years, according to the LA County district attorney’s office.
State prosecutors said that Jeremey, 68, pleaded not guilty to the charges, including forcible oral copulation, forcible rape, sexual battery by restraint, sexual penetration by a foreign object, and sexual penetration of an unconscious person.
Jeremy has been accused of sexually assaulting at least 20 women over a 24-year span going back to 1996. The victims’ ages were between 15 to 51. One of the young women allegedly raped was a 17-year-old at a Woodland Hills, CA, home in 2008, state prosecutors said.
Other victims were a 19-year-old woman who was allegedly raped during a magazine photoshoot in southern California. Another was a 26-year-old woman was allegedly raped at a nightclub.
Also, a 38-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted in a bar in Hollywood where Jeremy was a frequent guest. The woman was assaulted at his home and another was assaulted at a strip club. He usually allegedly assaulted young and even underage women, but sometimes he would turn his attention to women in their 30s and 40s.
Jeremy also was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl in 2004. The most recent alleged incident occurred on Jan. 1, 2020, when the porn star was accused of assaulting a 21-year-old woman outside a Hollywood business.
If he is convicted, he could be sentenced to 330 years in prison. Even if he receives a much shorter sentence if convicted, it’s highly likely he will die in prison.
Grand Jury Returned Indictment August 19
The Los Angeles grand jury returned the indictment Aug. 19 and it was unsealed Aug. 24. This comes about a year after Jeremy was charged.
His case was shown to the grand jury to avoid a public initial hearing where witnesses would need to testify in public. They wanted to avoid causing more pain to the victims, as occurred in the Harvey Weinstein trial.
The Los Angeles district attorney said that survivors of sexual assault often suffer in isolation for years. The district attorney’s office is doing its best to ensure that sexual assault survivors have as many options available as possible to aid their recovery.
Court records state that Jeremy is being held at the Twin Towers Correction Facility in Los Angeles on a $6.6 million bond. He will go back to court on October 12 for a pretrial appearance.
Jeremy Has Been An Adult Entertainment Star For Decades
Ron Jeremy is thought to be one of the major stars of the porn industry going back to the 1970s. His most active period was the 1980s and 1990s, when he played an overweight, hairy, older man. He had a strong presence in the porn industry for years after that. Rumors about sexual assault dogged him for years, but they only came into the public eye recently.
He was known for groping, hugging and kissing the bodies of many female performers as journalists took pictures at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Los Vegas. He also was often seen at porn conventions in LA and other large cities.
His fame led him to obtain roles in several reality series, including The Surreal Life.
In 2017, Rolling Stone reported that almost two dozen women said the porn star was a predator and used his bizarre public behavior as a way to justify his sexual assaults. Many victims were workers in the adult entertainment industry.
Jeremy has denied all allegations and said that he is devastated that any women ever felt uncomfortable with him. However, there are so many charges coming from so many women, it seems unlikely that all of the contacts with these women was consensual.
Jeremy Sued For Sexual Assault In 2020
Jeremy isn’t facing only criminal charges; in 2020, he was hit with a civil lawsuit for sexually assaulting a female friend at a hotel in LA.
Charity Carson said that her friend of 25 years trapped her against a bathroom wall, squeezed her chest, and tried to make her touch his penis.
Court documents noted the woman was screaming and trying to get away from Jeremy. She eventually was able to run from the room.
Carson told the media that they were friends for decades and she was shocked he would attempt to assault her. She noted at the time that six months had passed since the alleged incident, and it took her that long to get up the courage to file the complaint.
Carson went public with her accusations in June 2020 and said the adult entertainment actor is a ‘sexual predator’ who sees women as mere toys. Jeremy has appeared in at least 2,000 films.