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Porn star Ron Jeremy pleads not guilty to new rape charges

DAVID MCNEW/POOL PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
                                Adult film star Ron Jeremy appeared for his arraignment on rape and sexual assault charges at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, June 26, in Los Angeles. Jeremy pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of rape and sexual assault involving six victims, including a teenage girl, prosecutors said.

DAVID MCNEW/POOL PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Adult film star Ron Jeremy appeared for his arraignment on rape and sexual assault charges at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, June 26, in Los Angeles. Jeremy pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of rape and sexual assault involving six victims, including a teenage girl, prosecutors said.

Adult film star Ron Jeremy pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of rape and sexual assault involving six victims, including a teenage girl, prosecutors said.

Jeremy, 67, entered the pleas to seven additional charges including three of forcible rape, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The new charges involve alleged attacks dating from 1996 to 2013 on victims ranging in age from 17 to 38, prosecutors said.

The 17-year-old was raped at a Woodland Hills home in 2008, prosecutors contend.

The other alleged victims include a 19-year-old woman who was raped during a photoshoot in the San Fernando Valley; a 26-year-old woman who was raped at a party in a nightclub; a 38-year-old who was sexually assaulted at a West Hollywood bar where Jeremy was a regular; a woman who was sexually assaulted at Jeremy’s home and a woman who was assaulted at a strip club.

Jeremy is now facing a total of 35 charges involving 23 alleged victims, including a 15-year-old girl. The attacks occurred from 1996 to 2020, authorities contend.

Nicknamed “The Hedgehog,” Jeremy has been among the best-known and most prolific performers in the adult film industry since the 1970s.

Jeremy, whose legal name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, was investigated and charged by a district attorney’s task force formed to take on sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry as the #MeToo era gained momentum in late 2017.

He has been held in jail on $6.6 million bail since June.

If convicted of all charges, Jeremy could face a sentence of more than 330 years to life in state prison.

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