LOS ANGELES — Longtime adult film performer Ron Jeremy remains behind bars this week at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles this week, because he has been unable to post his required bail of $6.6 million — even though his lawyer says he made a “great argument” for reducing or waiving that amount.
As AVN reported, Jeremy pleaded not guilty last Friday to multiple counts of rape and sexual assault stemming from alleged incidents in 2014, 2017, and last year. In Friday’s arraignment at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles, Jeremy’s Encino-based attorney Stuart Goldfarb filed a motion to lower the adult industry veteran’s bail amount.
But Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza denied the motion after prosecutors said that they had received 25 new complaints against Jeremy, including 13 that allegedly took place in Southern California.
In comments to AVN, however, Goldfarb said that the allegations may have come largely from Jeremy’s appearances at adult industry conventions and trade shows, where close physical interaction with female fans is par for the course. None of the older allegations say that Jeremy used force against his alleged victims, and until the cases brought against him last week, no criminal charges had ever been filed against Jeremy, Goldfarb said.
“Why are they now coming forward in 2020 with these older claims?” Goldfarb said.
In a report Wednesday published by The Toronto Sun, Tampa, Florida, real estate agent Charity Hawke also alleged that Jeremy sexually assaulted her at a West Hollywood hotel.
Hawke told The Sun she had been friends with Jeremy for 24 years, but says that the Jeremy she encountered in May was “not the same man. He’s not my friend. Ron is a man who is deteriorating second by second.”
Goldfarb told AVN that he was not aware of the new allegation, but that none of the accusations he knows about led police or prosecutors to bring charges.
Jeremy’s bail amount was set based on California law, which calls for $100,000 bail for each “serious felony,” Goldfarb explained, plus $1 million for each felony which could carry a potential life sentence. Because Jeremy is charged with six “serious felonies,” with each possibly resulting in a life sentence, bail was set at $6.6 million.
But judges, Goldfarb said, are legally permitted to “deviate” from predetermined bail amounts. Espinoza said at Friday’s hearing that he could not deviate from the bail amount in Jeremy’s case.
Goldfarb said that though defendants in the criminal justice system are given a presumption of innocence, for bail purposes, they are effectively presumed guilty.
“The judge doesn’t have all the evidence,” Goldfarb said. “He can deviate but he has to give his reasons for deviating on the record.”
Jeremy’s lack of previous criminal charges, and his declining health status at age 67 show that he is not a danger to the public, Goldfarb said. But Espinoza apparently disagreed.
Los Angeles police on Tuesday posted a public notice seeking additional victims of alleged sexual assaults by Jeremy, a move that Goldfarb said was common practice in sex crimes cases.
Jeremy is next set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on August 31 on the ninth floor of Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center — the site of numerous high profile criminal cases, including the murder trials of O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector, and “Night Stalker” serial killer Richard Ramirez.
