Testimony is slated to begin Wednesday in the case involving a Santa Clarita Valley-based Grammy Award winner who is accused of raping and/or sexually assaulting at least a half-dozen women.
Noel Fisher, a 42-year-old Stevenson Ranch resident known professionally as Detail, was arrested in August of last year and saw 26 charges filed against him, including forcible rape, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, forcible oral copulation, sodomy by use of force and false imprisonment by violence.
Fisher is a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Ray J and Nicki Minaj. Fisher won two Grammys in 2015 for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song.
Among the at least half-dozen women who have come forward against Fisher, one from Santa Clarita obtained a default judgment against the producer after he had failed to respond to her lawsuit.
Court documents obtained by The Signal say the Santa Clarita-based victim was an aspiring model and actress who rented an apartment in the SCV, and alleges she was raped by Fisher on at least seven different occasions.
Last year, the victim’s attorney, William Briggs, a partner at Venable, said the victim filed a temporary restraining order against Fisher and notified law enforcement officials at the time the civil complaint was filed in 2019.
“The victims came forward reporting a sexual assault,” said Sgt. Charlie Gates, who led the investigation for the Special Victims Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, at the time of Fisher’s arrest. “He’s in the music industry and the victims are all kind of, or had some ties to or have tried to break into the industry.”
On Monday, Fisher’s case was assigned to Department 42 for preliminary hearing, according to Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
“We are set to begin testimony in the Noel Fisher preliminary hearing on (Wednesday) at 9:30 a.m. in Dept. 42,” said Santiago.
Fisher is being held at the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic in lieu of $6.29 million bail.
