Celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was indicted on 59 counts of sexual assault in a move prosecutors said Thursday would keep his accusers from having to testify at a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors previously charged Alexander with more than 40 felony and misdemeanor counts involving 18 victims that included rape, sexual battery and committing a lewd act on a child. He pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges.
The initial criminal complaint will be dismissed and replaced by the indictment unsealed Thursday. It added two more victims to the original case, bringing the total number of victims to 20, and said the crimes targeted women and girls from 15 to 27 between November 2002 and March 2007.
Seven of the alleged victims in the indictment are from California, while the rest are from eight states and two countries, prosecutors said. Alexander, 33, faces 54 felonies and five misdemeanors. The charges include forcible rape, sodomy, lewd act upon a child and false imprisonment by violence. If convicted of all counts, Alexander faces up to life in prison.
As a designer, Alexander made the rounds of parties and fashion events, sometimes working with such celebrities as Paris Hilton, Michelle Rodriguez and Mary J. Blige. He also was a profiled designer on “America’s Next Top Model” in 2003 and was among 20 people profiled by Newsweek as up-and-coming players in various industries.
He is suspected of meeting women on the Internet then assaulting them when they visited with him about modeling opportunities.
His defense has claimed some of the women made the allegations to seek fame.  Alexander’s lawyer, Anthony Brooklier, said in some of the cases, the victims either kept in contact or met with the fashion designer after the alleged crimes occurred.
Alexander was arrested in March after a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by the designer at his Beverly Hills apartment. Bail was previously set at $1.3 million but Alexander has remained in custody.  He was in court Thursday when Superior Court Judge David Wesley ordered him held without bail pending an Oct. 25 arraignment hearing. Prosecutors had asked for bail to be set at $5.1 million.
“One of the reasons in seeking the indictment is that it speeds up the process and avoids a preliminary hearing,” said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. “The nature of the charges allows victims not to testify twice.”  Alexander’s accusers will likely only have to testify at his trial.
The indictment was unsealed after being returned by a grand jury on Sept. 27. The panel met for nine days and heard testimony from 23 witnesses, said Deputy District Attorney Mara McIlvain.  A Harris County, Texas, grand jury returned an indictment July 30 charging Alexander with felony sexual assault of a child between ages 14 and 16, assistant district attorney Brian Rose said. Houston police have an open warrant for his arrest.
Three arrest warrants also have been issued for Alexander in Dallas County, Texas, where authorities said they plan to seek indictments for sexual assault and extradite Alexander after his California case concludes.  A phone message left at the Dallas County district attorney’s office was not immediately returned Thursday. Criminal investigations are also under way in New York and Massachusetts.
Alexander came to the United States from India as a teen with his sister and mother. He graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York in 1998 and began designing jewelry and clothing. Fashion and sex have always been entwined but this is really bad news for the industry.
