Dennis RomeroA woman claims two men drugged, raped and filmed her. And now she's suing the L.A.-based parent company of a website called Model Mayhem, where the woman claims she met the pair.
The lawsuit, sent to the Weekly by the victim's SoCal-based attorney, Kevin McGuire, was filed in L.A. federal court Friday, he told us.
It seeks $10 million in damages:
Rather than being a site where porn stars hook up with producers — there is such a thing — Model Mayhem seems to be a place for amateur and semi-pro models / crazy chicks and the creepy male “photographers” who love them.
Model Mayhem has more than 664,000 women who have posted profiles.
Perfectly normal. Except: The suit alleges that this particular pair of photogs, Emerson Callum and Lavont Flanders, were predators who had done this sort of thing before.
In February they received life in prison for their drugging, raping and filming scheme.
Credit: Model Mayhem
However, the victim's experience is claimed to have happened a year earlier, in February, 2011. So did Model Mayhem know these two were doing this sort of thing?
The lawsuit claims that it, and its El Segundo-based parent, Internet Brands (home of carsdirect.com, Bargainist, and nursingjobs.org), did know, by August of 2010, that these two had been accused of doing this sort of thing.
In fact, it argues, the parent company sued the brothers it bought the site from for allegedly failing to warn it that Model Mayhem comprised alleged trolling grounds for potential rapists.
One website, The True Experiences From Model Mayhem, claims:
The downfall behind it is the fact that perverts dwell among the photographers who in turn go after models and threaten their security. Since ModelMayhem allows nudity, many models display nude shots, much like DeviantArt.com.
In the case of this suit's victim, who was identified only as Jane Doe, the suit claims that she was drugged with alcohol and benzodiazepine (the key ingredient in Xanax, Valium, Halcion and other muscle relaxants) and raped her on camera for a porn film they would later sell.
According to the suit (warning, graphic language):
The next morning, Jane Doe woke up in her hotel room feeling disoriented, sick and confused. Jane Doe then noticed that her mouth was swollen and that there was blood in her vaginal area and anal area, as well as blood in the bathtub …
It claims that the pair were “disguised as talent scouts,” set up “fake auditions,” and dangled a “fraudulent modeling contract opportunity.”
The suit says the woman's rape happened in South Florida.
And if you think this could be a get-rich-quick scheme, note that the victim went to a hospital and notified police ASAP.
We called Internet Brands to get its side of the story but had yet to hear back.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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