Sex Charges Destroy Designer's Image
Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander.
Last spring Anand Jon Alexander, was charged with sex charges for raping and assaulting 18 girls and women. It was said that he had tempted them with promises of modeling opportunities for his fashion line.
"We believe he contacted young women who wanted to be models, used his access in the fashion industry and brought them to Los Angeles, where he allegedly sexually assaulted them," said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Authorities said the victims ages ranged from 14 to 27 years old, and the incidents took place during a Four and a Half year period between November 2002 and March 2007.
Alexander was in court Tuesday, August 28th 2007. He changed lawyers, and a judge postponed the setting of his beginning hearing date until Sept. 26. He remains behind bars, with bail set at $1.3 million. If found guilty of all the charges, he could face life in prison.
Only Two images of the 33-year-old, India-born designer have been published as he sits in a Los Angeles County jail cell.
"He was so busy with his work that he didn't have time to do any of these things," said his older sister, Sanjana Abraham. "It doesn't make sense."
Alleged victims and prosecutors, meanwhile, call Alexander a sexual predator and a fraud who used his fame and industry clout to entice young girls. Alexander's family has started a campaign to free him from jail so he can fight the charges.
"Hearing those words in court is like a thousand daggers hitting me," his mother, Shashi Abraham, said of the allegations. "We believe in one thing — that he's innocent."
