After a bleeding woman tried to scale an eight-foot wall to escape a luxurious compound near Beverly Hills this week, a Saudi prince staying there was arrested for attempting to force a female worker to perform a sex act on him, the Los Angeles Times reports. Prince Majed Abdulaziz al-Saud, described variously as either 28 or 29 years old, was released on $300,000 bail after being held on “suspicion of forced oral copulation.”
Los Angeles Police officers arriving midday Wednesday to the rented property in Beverly Glen encountered a “party atmosphere” and a civil lawsuit filed on Friday depicted a multi-day debauch during which al-Saud abused multiple women who worked in the household. From the Times:
The suit, filed by three women only identified as Jane Does, accuses him of “extreme,” “outrageous,” and “despicable” behavior that started Monday and ended in his arrest.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and claims Al-Saud inflicted emotional distress, assault and battery, sexual discrimination and retaliation against the workers, among other allegations.
Tennyson Collins, who lives nearby in the exclusive gated community, told CBS affiliate KCAL that neighbors summoned police on spotting a woman, bleeding and yelling for help, climbing the wall of the $37 million property. Collins also tweeted about the arrest, claiming that the police had sent “serious brass” to the scene and adding a photo of a man he said was al-Saud standing next to a black Mercedes-Benz.
In spite of his relationship to the House of Saud, the prince enjoys no diplomatic immunity against the charges, according to CBS News. Still, it’s far from a lock that he’ll show up for his Oct. 19 court appearance to face any potential punishment: The Daily Mail spoke to residents of Beverly Glen who said that all the cars were gone from the house’s driveway and the prince appeared to have moved out. “I am sure he has taken off on his private jet by now,” one neighbor said. “I don’t think he even needs a passport to get out of here.”
While the prince doesn’t appear to have made many friends during his time in California—most of the people escorted out of the “party” after his arrest were members of his put-upon household staff—he had at least one anonymous defender. A woman who wouldn’t give her name or appear on camera approached the KCAL crew outside the house’s gate and “insisted the incident didn’t happen, adding that the prince wouldn’t do something like that.”
