New York, June 25: Oscar winning composer Joseph Brook, 71 has been arrested on charges of raping 11 women between the ages of 18 and 30 whom he lured into his apartment with promises of film roles, reported The New York Times.
The musician who won the Academy award for his 1977 hit You Light Up My Life sexually assaulted the young aspirants, many of them from the Pacific Northwest, after enticing them with promises of a Hollywood career through the advertisements on Craigslist and a talent website, said the report quoting Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney.
Brooks “incapacitated them” with wine and then “intimidated them” into silence, Morgenthau said during a press conference to announce the 91-count indictment.
Morgenthau said that in addition to the 11 charged assaults that took place between 2005 and 2008, they had “information about one rape going back to 1970” and investigators were seeking other possible victims.
Meanwhile, Brooks’ lawyer Jeffrey C Hoffman said that his client was innocent as he was too frail to commit the crimes.
Brooks pleaded not guilty in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and was released upon assurance of posting the equivalent of a $2,50,000 cash bond by Thursday. He faces up to 25 years in prison on the most serious charges.
–Agencies