http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jon14mar14,1,1885470.story
Fashion designer Anand Jon held in three alleged sexual assaults
Beverly Hills police arrest Anand Jon in three reported
sexual assaults. His attorney says the allegations are fabrications by
models.
By Richard Winton
Times Staff Writer
March 14,
2007
Prominent fashion designer Anand Jon has been charged with multiple
counts of rape and sexual assault involving three alleged victims, the youngest
a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Beverly Hills police
arrested Jon on March 6 after a woman said he raped her.
The 33-year-old
designer to the stars, whom Newsweek named one of the people to watch in its
"Who's Next in 2007" issue, remains jailed.
Jane Robison, a spokeswoman
for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, said Jon was charged with
six felonies and one misdemeanor for alleged sexual assaults between October
2004 and March 5.
Jon's attorney, Ronald Richards, said the allegations
were fabrications by models who believed they weren't getting the work they had
expected from the designer.
"In these cases, what is going on here is
these girls fly in for model jobs after months of dialogue filled with
flirtation, they have sexual interaction and if he doesn't put them in the show
� then some time later they claim they had unwanted sex," Richards
said.
Prosecutors allege that in October 2004, Jon raped a woman, and
that this year he committed lewd acts with the 15-year-old March 3 and
4.
Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mitch McCann said his department's sex-crime
detectives began their investigation after another woman reported being raped
March 5.
"These are very serious charges," McCann said. "We arrested him
March 6 at a [Beverly Hills] residential property�. Additional evidence led us
to other victims."
Although prosecutors have charged Jon with assaulting
three people, detectives are aware of a fourth, another juvenile, McCann
said.
Richards said that in 2004, prosecutors declined to charge Jon in
the first alleged assault but have resurrected the claim in the current
case.
The lawyer added that the 15-year-old told police in the arrest
report that she was 17 and is on film saying she was 18. "She lied about her
age," he said.
The designer is being held in lieu of $1.3 million bail.
However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also placed a hold on the New
York-based designer, who is a superstar in his native India. Richards said
Beverly Hills police contacted immigration officials.
Jon is a rising
name in fashion, featured on MTV and in magazines.
A recent Newsweek
article described him as a "party boy in Miami in the 1990s � who as a
Parsons-trained designer launched his first line at New York Fashion Week in
1999 and has gone on to dress the likes of Paris Hilton."
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