Suspect in UCLA Attacks to Be Arraigned Today

A fugitive “talent scout” is expected to be arraigned today on charges that he lured 14 UCLA women to his apartment and sexually battered them.

Michael Peers, 50, allegedly committed the battery during 1998 and even videotaped the sessions with the students, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

Peers was arrested last November by the Allegheny County Police Department in Pennsylvania. He was extradited from Pittsburgh and faces two counts of sexual battery, 12 counts of battery, 15 counts of unlawfully videotaping a person without their knowledge and one count each of unlawful penetration by a foreign object and grand theft.

UCLA detectives began investigating Peers after a student reported in November 1998 that he took advantage of her after identifying himself as an agent for The ShowBiz Club and Casting Studios of America.

Police tried to arrest Peers a short time later, but he refused to unlock a steel security door. Four days later, he surrendered at UCLA police headquarters, where he was booked and released on $15,000 bail, then disappeared.

Police found 65 videotapes labeled with the names of the alleged victims, along with a camcorder, a 35-millimeter camera and a quantity of photos and slides showing nude and clothed women.

Using the videotapes, police tracked down a number of women, who said Peers had taken them to a “casting room” at his apartment, where he gave them registration forms and questionnaires to complete.