Los Angeles: Celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander was indicted on Thursday on 59 counts of sexual assault in a move prosecutors said will keep alleged victims 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.
The indictment added two more victims and said the crimes targeted women and girls from 15 to 27 between November 2002 and March 2007.
“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,” she added.
Prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $5.1 million, but Superior Court Judge David Wesley ordered Alexander to be held with no bail.
The indictment was unsealed after being returned by a grand jury on September 27.
Alexander, 33, is suspected of meeting women on the Internet and then assaulting them when they visited him regarding modelling opportunities.
However, his defense has claimed some of the women made the allegations to seek fame.
Alexander was arrested in March this year at his Beverly Hills apartment.
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.
Criminal investigations are also under way in New York and Massachusetts.
Alexander came to the United States from India as a teenager with his sister and mother. He graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York in 1998 and began designing jewellery and clothing.
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