Victim of Sexual Assault Speaks Out: 'I Will Fight for Any Girl'
Victim supports new legislation designed to protect others from harrassment.
Dec. 18, 2009— -- "I was fourteen. He took my adolescence, my trust, my dream, and completely manipulated me for his sexual desires. It sickens me that a grown man can do such a thing to a girl…I wish you knew how it feels to be trapped while a grown man holds you down...."
When Autumn, now 18, read those words in open court to Anand Jon just before he was sentenced, she believed her nightmare was almost over. After more than two years, the fashion designer had finally been convicted of sexually assaulting her and six other young models. Autumn was a key witness and one of the youngest victims in the case; her testimony played an important role in his conviction.
Click here for more on Anand Jon's fall from grace.
Yet just when it seemed to her that justice was done -- with Anand Jon sentenced to 59 years to life behind bars -- Autumn said her attacker continued to harass her from behind bars. She claims that Jon's investigators contacted her Facebook friends, offering them a six-figure reward if they could provide evidence that Autumn lied about him.
In a text to Autumn's friends as well as other victims, his investigators wrote: "Her lies caused Anand Jon to get a life sentence. There is a reward, up to $100,000, for the truth."
"It appears to us that they are trying to humiliate and perhaps even intimidate this young victim," Autumn's attorney Gloria Allred told "20/20." "This is conduct that is despicable and outrageous...If they think that they are going to be successful in trying to silence Autumn, to undermine her credibility and to harass her, they are very mistaken."
On behalf of Autumn and the other victims, Allred helped initiate new legislation designed to protect young crime victims from being harassed by their convicted perpetrators on the Internet.
California Senate Bill 834, introduced by the state's Senate Majority Leader, Dean Florez, clarifies that protective orders also extend to the harassment of a victim through his or her online friends.