Adult film actor Ron Jeremy charged with 20 new counts of sexual assault

Adult film star Ron Jeremy was charged on Monday, August 31 with 20 new counts of rape or sexual assault involving 12 women and a teenage girl, authorities said.

The charges come two months after 67-year-old Jeremy was charged with the rape of three women and the sexual assault of a fourth.

Jeremy pleaded not guilty to the new charges in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday morning, and had already denied the previous allegations.

Jeremy, whose legal name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, has been held in jail on US$6.6 million (approx. $9 million) bail since June.

The new counts span 16 years, from 2004 to January of this year, when he is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 21-year-old girl outside a business in Hollywood, the chief prosecutor's office said.

The charges include five counts of forcible rape and six counts of sexual battery by restraint. They also include an allegation that he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl at a party in 2004.

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After the previous charges were filed, Jeremy's lawyer Stuart Goldfarb said he was "absolutely innocent." Goldfarb did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on the new counts.

Investigators from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department put out a call for more possible victims to come forward when the initial charges were filed in June.

The combined counts could bring sentences of more than 250 years in prison.

Jeremy, nicknamed "The Hedgehog," has been among the best known and most prolific performers in the adult film industry since the 1970s.

He was investigated and charged by a state prosecutor's task force formed to take on sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry as the #MeToo era gained momentum in late 2017.

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