The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division has opened a prison investigation into Motown singer Smokey Robinson after 4 of his former staffers accused him of sexual assault and wage theft.
Robinson, 85, was sued earlier this month by three former housekeepers and a former private assistant who allege that the singer, whose authorized identify is William Robinson, pressured them to have intercourse with him and likewise didn’t pay minimal wage or time beyond regulation pay.
The swimsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court docket, additionally accuses the singer’s spouse, Frances Robinson, of repeatedly screaming on the staff, utilizing ethnically pejorative phrases and failing to do something to stop her husband’s sexual abuse regardless of allegedly being conscious of his actions.
The couple’s lawyer, Christopher Frost, has denied the allegations. Particulars of the Sheriff’s Division’s probe weren’t instantly offered Thursday.
“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division Particular Victims Bureau is actively investigating prison allegations involving William Robinson, a.okay.a. ‘Smokey Robinson,’” stated division spokesperson Nicole Nishida. “The investigation is within the early levels, and we have now no additional remark.”
Frost stated the Sheriff’s Division is required to research the allegations as a result of the ladies filed a police report after submitting the lawsuit.
In a press release, Frost known as the police report “a determined try and prejudice public opinion and make much more of a media circus than the Plaintiffs have been beforehand capable of create” and stated his purchasers welcome the investigation.
“The report will in the end exhibit that that is nothing greater than a manufactured lawsuit meant to tarnish the great names of Smokey and Frances Robinson, for no different motive than unadulterated avarice,” the assertion learn.
The lawsuit states that the ladies beforehand had reservations about reporting Robinson’s alleged abuse to authorities for a number of causes together with worry about immigration standing, dropping their livelihoods, public humiliation and intimidation by Robinson and his influential mates.
Attorneys representing the 4 girl — who filed the lawsuit as Jane Does — stated they have been happy to be taught that the Sheriff’s Division had opened an investigation into their purchasers’ claims of sexual assault.
“Our purchasers intend to totally cooperate with LASD’s ongoing investigation within the pursuit of searching for justice for themselves and others which will have been equally assaulted by him [Robinson],” attorneys John Harris and Herbert Hayden stated in a press release.
The civil lawsuit accuses the Robinsons of negligence, sexual battery and sexual assault, false imprisonment, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional misery, gender violence, and a hostile work atmosphere, along with labor violations associated to wages, breaks, meal intervals, and vacation and time beyond regulation pay, based on the criticism.
The ladies allege that the “Tracks of My Tears” singer required them to have varied kinds of intercourse with him — vaginal, oral and digital — through the years at his homes in Chatsworth, Bell Canyon and Las Vegas.
Jane Doe 1 labored for the Robinsons from January 2023 till February 2024. Jane Doe 2 labored from Might 2014 to February 2020. Jane Doe 3 labored from February 2012 to April 2024, and Jane Doe 4 labored from October 2006 to April 2024.
Instances workers writers Christie D’Zurilla and Richard Winton contributed to this report.
