Today, in Los Angeles, Anand Jon was convicted of rape and sexual assault.
A Beverly Hills fashion designer was found guilty today of sexually assaulting seven girls and young women, capping a two-month trial that offered a sordid portrait of the fashion world.
The jury of six men and six women deliberated for seven days before finding Anand Jon Alexander guilty of one count of rape and 15 counts of sexual assault and other charges.
The designer, who goes by the professional name of Anand Jon, sat silently in court wearing a light gray suit and yellow tie as the court clerk announced the jury’s verdicts. Behind him, his sister sobbed as she sat with friends and family in the crowded downtown Los Angeles courtroom. [LAT]Obviously, the culprit— how I love that especially brown word— saw things differently. A charming snippet of a screen shot from one of his official sites, which clearly explains how Jon sees himself is below:
Some of you may remember Jon from his memorable stint on the blink-tastic reality program America’s Next Not-Quite-Top Model, the show which elevates women (Eva Panni-ford, I’m looking at your unpleasant kundi) who are too short or too old to succeed in the industry to…mediocre heights. On ANnqTM, Anand was an utter douche to fellow Malayalee Julie Ann Titus during season three. But I digress.
Jon, 34, a rising designer who had dressed socialite Paris Hilton and singer Janet Jackson before his arrest last year, faces possible life imprisonment after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found him guilty on 16 criminal counts.
The crimes involved lewd acts on a child, rape and sexual battery in assaults between 2001 and 2007 against nine would-be models aged between 14 and 21. He was also convicted of possessing child pornography. [Reuters]
Oh, and what pr0n it was. Said an…interesting …post which was sympathetic to the disgraced designer:
Porn troves found on his computers came from commercial sites. The fact that these sites had names like Gag on My Cock and Teens Tits & Ass doesn’t make them illegal kiddie porn Web sites or newsgroups. [LAweekly]Hmmm. Why does the name of that latter site seem so jarring— OH RIGHT. Because he was convicted of preying on girls who were as young as 14.
Prosecutors said Jon lured girls and women to Los Angeles with the promise they could work as models and then attacked them.
“He humiliated, degraded and took what he wanted from them. He was a predator who took advantage of the weak people around him. He has no criminal sexual borders. If he didn’t use force, he laced their drinks,” prosecutor Frances Young told the jury. [Reuters]
Jon, whose full name is Anand Jon Alexander, denied the charges. His lawyers said the girls and young women were revenge seekers who had made up their stories or who had “invited what happened,” and that there was little physical evidence.[Reuters]
Classy. The old, “she was asking for it”-strategery.
Jon’s high-powered defense team sought to point up inconsistencies in the accounts of his accusers, portraying them as liars engaged in a shadowy plot to bring down the up-and-coming designer.
In their closing arguments, prosecutors conceded that some of the girls were far from “perfect victims” and described the Beverly Hills police investigation as “sloppy.” But they urged jurors to focus on similarities in the testimony of the many alleged victims.
Jon faces a 67-year wait before he is eligible for parole.
