The designer was charged initially with seven counts—including forcible rape, lewd acts upon a child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, sexual battery by restraint and attempted forcible oral copulation—on three victims.
More counts were added later, including sexual penetration by a foreign object, sexual exploitation of a child and sexual battery. Anand Jon now faces 32 charges involving 12 victims age 14 to 23 in Los Angeles alone.
Photo illustration by Chip Simon
Many of the models who worked with Anand Jon say he manipulated, cajoled and berated them until they felt helpless in warding off his advances. Child abuse prosecutors call it "accommodation syndrome."
Anand Jon with Jessie Nizewitz
An assistant says that the designer had grown even more paranoid in recent months, urging her to contact girls he worried were going to snitch. She didn't know until he was arrested that Anand Jon had been charged with committing a lewd act on a child in 2003, according to the Los Angeles Times. The paper reported that he had pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct. He was ordered to undergo almost a year of sex therapy as a part of his three-year probated sentence. Another condition: that he have no contact with any person under age 18 without the presence of a "responsible" adult.
His probation had ended in November 2005. The current charges are for incidents that occurred between October 2004 and March 2007.
According to sources still in contact with him, Anand Jon now lives in New York. Jane Robison, who handles press relations for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, told The New York Times that Anand fits "the pattern of a sexual predator." Robison says that if he works with models, they must be over 18; he must have other adults besides Sanjana and her boyfriend present with them at all times, and the models must sign consent forms affirming that they have not been alone with him. Those forms must be presented to a judge on June 12, the date of a preliminary hearing.
"I know we are getting calls from models and their families from around the country," Robison says.
Anand Jon Alexander is now under investigation in Dallas after Emily and several other models contacted police. Additional charges might be filed in Texas. "Sydney," who lives in the Hill Country, talked to Emily after learning what had happened to her.
Sydney agreed to talk to the Observer while Emily listened.
Sydney's encounter with Anand Jon took place in Texas on July 23, 2006, after he contacted her through MySpace. She was 16 when the designer met her at a hotel. Within 30 minutes, she claims, Anand Jon had flattered and cajoled and bullied Sydney down to her thong underwear. "The air turns to ice," Sydney says. "You can't breathe, you can't move. It's just the most disgusting feeling in the pit of your stomach."
Sydney says the designer straddled her, pushed her face into a pillow and raped her without a condom. When he finished, she claims, Anand Jon said, "Goooood girrrrrrl."
Hearing that, Emily burst into tears.
