LOS ANGELES — Two of Ron Jeremy's accusers in his ongoing criminal trial for multiple incidents of sexual abuse have dropped out of the District Attorney office’s case, a spokesperson confirmed to XBIZ.
Legal observers had noticed a discrepancy in last week’s announcement by DA George Gascón that a grand jury had indicted Jeremy on "more than 30 sexual assault counts involving 21 victims dating back more than two decades."
Before the grand jury met in secret — a development XBIZ broke on August 16 — the number of alleged victims was 23.
When reached by XBIZ, the DA’s spokesperson confirmed that “the biggest change [between last year’s amended complaint and the grand jury’s indictment] is that there are 21 victims, not 23. Two victims were unavailable to testify due to personal reasons.”
The DA’s office also clarified that “a few of the charges were tweaked to more accurately represent victim grand jury testimony.”
The DA's spokesperson later confirmed that there will be no preliminary hearing "because there is now a grand jury indictment. The victims’ testimony at the grand jury was transcribed and both the prosecution and defense have copies. They can be cross-examined at trial."
The office declined to comment on whether it is standard for a grand jury to hand down an indictment more than a year after an arrest/arraignment, or if this in any way COVID-related.
The grand jury indictment was returned August 19, and was unsealed August 25.
Jeremy is scheduled to return to court on October 12 for a pretrial conference.
For XBIZ's ongoing coverage of the Ron Jeremy case, click here.
