Los Angeles, USA
Adult film actor Ron Jeremy took advantage of the novelty of his fame to meet and isolate women he raped and sexually assaulted, using the same tactics for years, according to the testimony of the grand jury of 21 women who was unveiled on Saturday.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we had a picture and an autograph of him?” a woman, identified only as Jane Doe 8, said she remembered telling her friend when they saw Jeremy in 2013 at a bar and grill in West Hollywood. He would sexually assault her minutes later, the woman testified, one of several who said her attacks took place in the same small bathroom.
“I was like, wow, you know, this is Ron Jeremy, I mean, I was a little impressed. I’m like him, I don’t mean ‘celebrity,’ but you know, it was,” said another woman, Jane Doe 7, when Jeremy arrived at the door of the Hollywood hotel room with which he shared. friends, where the porn actor would rape her soon after, according to her testimony.
Jeremy, 68, whose legal name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of sexual assault, including 12 counts of rape, when the Los Angeles County Grand Jury filed a charge against him on August 25th. He has been in jail since his arrest in June 2020. His lawyer, Stuart Goldfarb, has said he is “innocent of all charges” and would prove it. An email asking for more Goldfarb comments on Saturday was not answered immediately.
Named “The Hedgehog,” Jeremy has been among the most well-known and prolific artists in the porn industry for decades, and became a recognizable popular cultural novelty through reality shows, public appearances, and music videos. For a long time he has been a magnet for those looking for autographs and selfies, which is how most women and girls between the ages of 15 and 51 who are accused of assaulting him first met him. time.
Some did not even recognize him at first, but they entered his orbit because of the air of fame that surrounded him. A 33-year-old woman, whom Jeremy is accused of sexually assaulting when she was 15 in 2004, said she approached him in a rave he was organizing in Santa Clarita, California.
“I didn’t know who she was, but I just … everyone told me she was famous, so I was excited to meet a celebrity,” said the woman, now 33, known as Jane Doe May.
After meeting her, he invited her backstage, where he asked her if she wanted to see “something cool,” then lifted her into the air, put her hand under her skirt, and abused her. ‘she,’ he said.
Many women described Jeremy using the same methods in the same places.
He was a popular regular at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, where he was allowed to use the employees ’restroom.
He lured the women there by offering them the kitchen where the restaurant made their famous pizzas, or telling them he knew a bathroom they could use when the public restrooms were closed after the last call.
He would follow them into the small space, close the door behind them, use their considerable size to keep them from leaving, then rape them or engage in other sexual assaults, several women testified.
Jane Doe 8 said that before her assault she told Jeremy that they were staying at the Loew s Hollywood Hotel, but did not tell her the room number.
He showed up at the door the next day.
“I have connections all over this city,” he recalled telling her when asked how he had found them. She had not told her friend, Jane Doe 7, about the assault, and failed in her attempts to get her out of the room, where Jeremy would rape her, according to her testimony.
Several women said Jeremy asked them to write a note about their experience on a paper napkin in which prosecutors called an attempt to obtain evidence of consent after the fact. Women, under pressure and seeking to escape, often obeyed.
Jeremy also gave cash to some victims after the attacks, so prosecutors said they were similar reasons.
“Out of nowhere, he just threw money at me,” said a woman who received a $ 100 bill from Jeremy after she said he raped her in 2019 at the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
The woman’s boyfriend and brother had warned her to stay away from Jeremy earlier in the night when she asked him who he was, but he took a picture with him anyway when he saw several others doing -ho.
She testified that she went up to the act with them holding the cash and said, “That came from that guy you told me to keep away from. He just raped me in the bathroom.”
The woman went to police about an hour later, becoming one of the few who immediately reported her assaults. Some said Jeremy’s status as a porn actor prevented them from going to the authorities for years.
“He’s a celebrity and what he knows is that he has sex with people in front of the camera for money,” said Jane Doe 7, who, like many of the victims, showed up years later only after Jeremy was arrested. last year . “I thought there was no way anyone would believe me, and I just wanted to get out of there and forget about everything.”