The charges had been piling up for a while.
Pornographic actor Ron Jeremy has been formally charged in Los Angeles with rape and sexual assault on 21 victims, some of whom are minors, the county prosecutor said on Wednesday.
Ron Jeremy, 68, with more than 1,700 pornographic appearances since the late 1970s, had long been the subject of charges of sexual abuse within the profession and had been held to the gap of different events in recent years.
In June 2020, he was charged with the rape of three women and the sexual assault of a fourth.
His arrest and appearance in Los Angeles court had sparked a new wave of complaints against the 60-year-old, who has been behind bars since then.
Alleged victims aged 15 to 51
The oldest facts date back to 1996 and in total, Ron Jeremy is accused of various sexual violence against 21 women aged 15 to 51 years, summarized in a statement the Los Angeles County prosecutor, George Gascon.
He is notably accused of the rape of a 17-year-old girl at her home in Woodland Hills in 2008 and the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl in June 2004.
Ron Jeremy, who had declared himself totally "innocent" on Twitter in 2020, pleaded "not guilty" to all the facts of which he is accused, this Wednesday.
I am innocent of all charges.
I can't wait to prove my innocence in court!
Thank you to everyone for all the support.
- Ron Jeremy (@RealRonJeremy) June 23, 2020
In June 2020, his lawyer, Stuart Goldfarb, denounced the accusations against his client, assuring that he was "not a rapist".
“Ron, over the years and because of what he is, has been the partner of more than 4,000 women (…) Women pounce on him,” said the lawyer.
If found guilty, the actor could end his life in prison.
Ron Jeremy is the latest of the big names in the entertainment industry to come face to face with the Los Angeles justice system for sexual abuse since the #MeToo movement against violence against women emerged in 2017.
In total, the team specially set up at the time to investigate sex crimes in Hollywood looked at around 20 potential suspects.
Among them is the fallen tycoon Harvey Weinstein, sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York, but who is at the same time accused of abusing other women in Los Angeles.
