LOS ANGELES — Longtime adult industry performer Ron Jeremy appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom Friday morning, where he entered a plea of not guilty to three charges of forcible rape, as well as multiple counts of sexual assault. Jeremy was arrested earlier this week and appeared in court Tuesday, but was not arraigned at that time.
Jeremy’s lawyer appealed to a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court Friday to reduce the porn performer’s bail from $6.6 million, but the request was denied, according to a report from the courtroom by Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally. He will remain in custody at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles to await scheduling of his next court appearance.
Prosecutors in the case opposed reduction in Jeremy’s bail, telling the court that “at least 25 women have come forward to make allegations against the defendant ranging from misdemeanor sexual battery to rape,” since Tuesday, when Jeremy made his initial court appearance following his arrest, according to a report by KNBC investigative reporter Eric Leonard.
According to a criminal complaint against Jeremy filed Monday by Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Jeremy faces eight total counts, including the three forcible rape charges. The complaint lists potential state prison sentences of 15 years to life on each of six counts, meaning that at age 67, Jeremy risks spending the rest of his life behind bars if convicted on even one of those counts.
Jeremy “allegedly sexually assaulted two women, ages 33 and 46, on separate occasions at a West Hollywood bar in 2017. He also is accused of forcibly raping a 30-year-old woman at the same bar in July 2019,” according to a statement issued Tuesday by the L.A. County District Attorney’s office. He is also charged with committing a forcible rape, reportedly at a home in West Hollywood in 2014.
“Our office declines further comment,” D.A.’s spokesperson Greg Risling told AVN Thursday, when emailed a series of questions on the Jeremy case, and the work of the office’s Entertainment Industry Sex Crimes Task Force.
Jeremy has claimed his innocence in all of the charges, in a Twitter post Tuesday.
In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine reported that more that a dozen women had made accusations of sexual misconduct against Jeremy, but no charges were brought at that time. And on Thursday of this week, adult industry performer Ginger Banks, whose initial allegations against Jeremy sparked the 2017 Rolling Stone report, told Britain’s Sun tabloid that since making that accusation, she has collected “about 50 legitimate first hand accounts” from alleged victims of sexual assaults by Jeremy.
Founded by Lacey in November of 2017, the task force has investigated more than 40 complaints of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, according to information posted on the D.A.’s website. But the charges against Jeremy are only the third case brought by the task force, and the first involving the adult industry.
Earlier this year, the task force brought California sexual assault charges against film producer Harvey Weinstein — who was convicted in New York in February on one rape and one sexual assault charge — and another Hollywood producer, David Guillod, known for producing the action film Atomic Blonde. But the Los Angeles County D.A.’s office on June 13 transferred the Guillod case to Santa Barbara.
