Aspiring Models' Dreams Turn Into Nightmares

Dec. 18, 2009— -- Jessie was an aspiring model who enjoyed being in front of the camera. "I loved how it made me feel. I loved how I just became a different person," she said.

But it's easy for a young girl with big dreams to get taken advantage of -- as this 18-year-old small-town makeup artist learned when she met a 34-year-old fashion designer Anand Jon.

Jon, born in India, was the toast of New York's fashion scene. Newsweek named him one of the hottest new designers to watch in 2007. With his black mane of curls, he exuded a sense of international mystery, arrogance and sex appeal -- and he was always surrounded by young, scantily clad women.

"It was always girls coming in and out, girls fitting," said fashion model Xenia Semias. "Even celebrities would come in there and hang out."

Jessie said Jon contacted her through MySpace. "He wrote me an e-mail, saying that, you know, he loved my look. ... It was, 'Can I set up a photo shoot with you?' And I said, 'Sure.' I had Googled him online and seen that he had worked with Paris Hilton and all of those celebrities."

Jessie, like most of the other girls Jon reached out to, was thrilled to be noticed -- especially by an up-and-coming designer like Jon.

In spring 2007, just as his new jeans line was about to be launched with millions in funding from Wall Street, Jon invited Jessie to fly to visit his Beverly Hills, Calif., apartment on his dime.

The aspiring model thought it was her big break. "As soon as I walked in the door, I realized this is not where I'm supposed to be. There was stuff all over the floor. It smelled bad," Jessie said.

Jessie told "20/20" that Jon instructed her to be quiet because his two assistants were asleep in their bedroom. She claimed he offered her an alcoholic beverage, which she declined. She said what happened next still haunts her to this day.

"He asked me to come back to the bedroom. So I did. At that point he had started kissing me. I was completely freaked out. He kept kissing my neck and my chest and he had tried to rip off ... my shirt at that time," she said. "And I was just, you know, 'No. What are you doing? You need to stop.' At that point he put his full body weight on top of me and suddenly he started to rape me."

When asked why she didn't yell, "rape," Jessie told "2020": "I didn't know what he was capable of doing."

While Jessie was cowering on the bed, she said Jon moved to the floor beside the air mattress and began to meditate as if nothing had happened. "I was looking at him, like, in terror," she said.

Exhausted, frightened and alone in Los Angeles, Jessie said she fell asleep -- only to be awakened the next morning by a commotion in the living room.

"He was swearing at [his assistants]," she said. "I was thinking to myself, 'Why would you let someone talk to you like that?'"

But Jessie was also afraid to anger him. "I was afraid. So I acted as normal as I possibly could until I got out of that house," she said.

When Jon's assistants left for lunch, Jessie revealed to them that Jon forced himself on her. "I've got to get out of here," she said she told them.

Click here for more on Anand Jon's fall from grace.