Former adult film star and accused rapist Ron Jeremy will be released from jail to a private residence in Los Angeles after a judge on Thursday rejected prosecutors’ request to change the plan amid protests from Jeremy’s alleged victims.
The 70-year old has been in custody on sex crimes charges, but a judge in Los Angeles ruled in January that he’s incompetent to stand trial because he has severe dementia.
He was awaiting placement in a state facility, but a judge last week granted a request from his conservator that he be moved to a private home because of his deteriorating health. However, prosecutors asked the judge to reconsider. Many of the women who accused Jeremy of rape or sexual assault also objected to the move. Several spoke at a hearing Thursday afternoon at a courthouse in Hollywood.
One accuser said Jeremy “should suffer as I have.”
“He imprisoned me emotionally for the rest of my life. He belongs in prison and should never be released,” she said.
Another said Jeremy’s release “is not justice for me. I feel that this is special treatment for a celebrity.”
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert Harrison declined to reverse his order.
He did order an investigation to determine if Jeremy qualifies for a conservatorship that could house him in a state hospital, but their lawyer, famed women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, said the process could take years, and the investigation can’t consider Jeremy’s current charges when determining whether he’s a risk to public safety.
In the meantime, Jeremy will be released, and Allred said she doesn’t know exactly where.
“We will not know where that private residence is and if he will be locked down in the private residence,” Allred said in an interview. “There is no requirement that it be a residence where he will be on lockdown.”
Legal name Ronald Jeremy Hyatt, Jeremy originally was charged with four counts, but more women came forward after his arrest, and the case ballooned to 34 counts of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual battery involving 23 women.
Many of the women said they were attacked in the bathroom of the Rainbow Room Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip, where Jeremy was a regular.
One of the women who spoke on Thursday said she was at the Hollywood establishment with her sister because it’s known for its pizza. She said Jeremy offered to show her the kitchen, then forced her into an employee bathroom and “violently sexually assaulted me, which caused a great deal of pain and suffering emotionally and physically because of my breast cancer.”
