Posted on 12/16/2002 5:59:51 PM PST by dighton
An heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune was accused yesterday of being a serial rapist who drugged and filmed his victims.
Andrew Luster, 37, appeared in a California court to face multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, sodmy and poisoning. If found guilty he could face a sentence of up to 150 years.
The great-grandson of the make-up tycoon was arrested two and a half years ago after a 21-year-old woman alleged that he had spiked her drink with Liquid X, a slang term for the date rape drug hydroxybutrate or GHB.
When officers searched his home they found photographs and videotapes of him having sex with at least two other women who appeared drugged. Both were subsequently contacted by police and claimed they had no idea that they were being filmed and had not consented to sex.
In one video Luster, who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, allegedly told the camera: “I dream about this, a strawberry blonde passed out on my bed waiting for me to do with her what I will.”
He then, according to one detective’s description, had sex with her as if she was “like a toy doll”.
Luster picked up his 21-year-old alleged victim in Santa Barbara, where he was a regular visitor to the bars and nightclubs, in July 2000. The girl, who says she began to feel unnaturally woozy while dancing with him, then returned to his nearby £400,000 beach house where she claims she was raped.
Luster, who lives off a £1 million trust fund, has said publicly that the sex was consensual and that he was an aspiring porn producer who directed films in which women pretended to be asleep while he had sex with them. His lawyer has stated that the girls had drunk too much and were now embarrassed by their actions.
No vials of GHB were found at his home or in his car and no trace was found in his alleged victim’s bloodstream, Ventura County Superior Court heard. The drug is very difficult to detect as it vanishes from the blood within four hours and from urine within 12.
In an interview in March made before the judge imposed a gagging order on him, Luster said: “My life has been ruined because police and prosecutors jumped to conclusions. They wanted to make me their GHB poster boy. They’re doing this to punish me for my lifestyle, which doesn’t fit in with their conservative values.
“In 20 years I haven’t got anything except a few speeding tickets. Had they thoroughly investigated [the alleged victim] before charging me they would have discovered she lied.”
He was released last December on £700,000 bail after spending five months in prison. He has subsequently been required to wear an electronic tag.
Luster, who has two children by a previous girlfriend, grew up in nearby Malibu with his mother Elizabeth, the adopted child of Factor’s oldest daughter Freda. She opened a health and fitness retreat in the Napa Valley and bought the beach home for her son when he was 18.
He once owned a surfboard company and has produced several films but has never held down a steady job. Instead, he spent most of his time sailing and surfing.
Max Factor, a Russian immigrant, created the first retail cosmetics line in 1916 and in the 1930s manufactured make-up for stars such as Joan Crawford and Katherine Hepburn.
The company was sold in 1970 for £340 million.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.
Appropriate name.
BTW, isn't rape a private matter?
I hope that is a dig at hypocritical liberals and not Libertarians, as Libertarian philiosophy is clear on the question, unless you think females aren't deserving of equal rights -- which I guess some conservatives still hold.
Two words for you: BILL CLINTON.
SEX is a private matter....rape is a very public felony. I hope they nail him and he gets a very lonely cellmate who then NAILS HIM! I speak as the father of a beautiful daughter whose worst nightmare is an animal like this.
Seems like the family higher ups have decided that he can't be trusted, at the age of 37, to handle any more than that.
Think Juanita Broaddrick, the media, Congress, and NOW.
Martin, Martin, Martin.. (shaking head).....sheesh! :-)
This is a worse explanation than Winona Ryder's "research for a film" excuse. If I were a judge or juror, he'd get a few years extra just for insulting my intelligence.
How about Lust Wanderer? Or Slut Wanderer?
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Given the evidence, this clown should never have been released from anything.
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