If Anand Jon Comes Back to Dallas, He Might Not Be Leaving

Anand Jon, who designs for Paula Abdul, is a wanted man in Dallas.

Must be the week for unsealed indictments. Only, we had an idea these were coming, as three arrest warrants on sexual assault charges have been issued in Dallas for New York-based fashion faux pas Anand Jon. The 33-year-old designer for the likes of Paris Hilton and Paula Abdul allegedly met would-be models on the Internet and arranged to meet them when he came through Dallas — allegedly to sexually assault them, as we reported in the paper version of Unfair Park earlier this year. Allegedly.

Harris County also has issued an open warrant for his arrest on a felony charge of sexual assault of a child between age 14 and 16. But the two Texas counties will have to get in line, as yesterday a Los Angeles judge unsealed a 59-count indictment against Anand Jon for sexual assault of 20 women between the ages of 14 and 27. The charges include forcible rape, lewd acts upon a child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, sexual battery by restraint and attempted forcible oral copulation. The indictment supersedes previous charges involving 18 women. The allegations include 54 felonies and five misdemeanors.

Anand Jon was originally charged March 13 and will remain in jail without bail until October 25; prosecutors are seeking bond in excess of $5 million. Seven alleged victims are from California; others hail from eight states, including Texas, and two foreign countries. The indictment was issued to spare the women from having to testify in a preliminary hearing.

“One of the reasons in seeking the indictment is that it speeds up the process and avoids a preliminary hearing,” Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office told the Associated Press. But the designer’s case begs to differ: “We think this is made up of whole cloth, the entire case.” –Glenna Whitley