Women say they met porn actor Jeremy for fun; rape came next
LOS ANGELES » Adult film actor Ron Jeremy leveraged the novelty of his celebrity to meet and often isolate women whom he raped and sexually assaulted, using the same tactics for years, according to grand jury testimony from 21 women that was unsealed Saturday.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if we got a picture and an autograph from him?” one woman, identified only as Jane Doe 8, said she remembered telling her friend when they saw Jeremy in 2013 at a West Hollywood bar and grill. He would sexually assault her minutes later, testified the woman, one of several who said their attacks came in the same small bathroom.
“I was like, wow, you know, this is Ron Jeremy, I mean, I was kind of impressed. I’m like he’s — I don’t want to say ‘celebrity,’ but you know, he kind of was,” said another woman, Jane Doe 7, when Jeremy came to the door of the Hollywood hotel room she was sharing with friends, where the porn actor would rape her soon after, according to her testimony.
Jeremy, 68, whose legal name is Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, pleaded not guilty to more than 30 counts of sexual assault, including 12 counts of rape, when the Los Angeles County grand jury returned an indictment against him on Aug. 25. He has been in jail since his arrest in June 2020. His attorney, Stuart Goldfarb, has said he is “innocent of all the charges” and they would prove it. An email seeking further comment from Goldfarb on Saturday was not immediately returned.
Nicknamed “The Hedgehog,” Jeremy has been among the best-known and most prolific performers in the porn industry for decades, and became a recognizable pop cultural novelty through reality shows, public appearances and music videos. He has long been a magnet for seekers of autographs and selfies, which is how most of the women and girls aged 15 to 51 he is accused of assaulting first met him.
Some didn’t even recognize him initially, but they came into his orbit because of the air of fame around him. A woman whom Jeremy is charged with sexually assaulting when she was 15 in 2004 said she approached him at a rave he
was hosting in Santa Clarita, California.
“I didn’t know who he was, but I just — everyone told me he was famous so I was excited to meet a celebrity,” said the woman, now 33, known as Jane Doe 5.
After they met, he invited her backstage, where he asked her if she wanted to see “something cool,” then lifted her in the air, put his hand under her skirt and molested her, she said.
Many women described Jeremy using the same methods in the same places.
He was a popular regular at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, where he had permission to use the employee bathroom.
He would lure women there by offering to show them the kitchen where the restaurant made its famous
pizzas, or by telling them he knew a bathroom they could use when the public restrooms were closed after last call.
He would follow them into the small space, lock the door behind them, use his considerable size to block them from leaving, then rape them or engage in other sexual assault, several women testified.
Jane Doe 8 said that before her assault, she told Jeremy they were staying at the Loew’s Hollywood Hotel but did not tell him the room number.
He appeared at the door the next day.