Woman Denies Threatening Alleged Rape Victim

A woman whose ex-husband is accused of raping a female porn star pleaded not guilty Thursday to trying to dissuade the woman from testifying against him.

Rebecca Ethel Holland, 33, of Los Angeles is accused of threatening the woman with revealing her adult film career to the mainstream media--with photos--if she took the witness stand in the upcoming trial.

As part of of her effort to prevent the 29-year-old Covina woman from testifying, police said, Holland called her and posed as a CNN reporter from Australia seeking to cover the case.

Sheriff’s detectives got that message, Australian accent and all, on audiotape, and another conversation.

“This strikes at the very heart of the integrity of the judicial system,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Christina Weiss. “She masqueraded as a news reporter trying to get a story.”

Holland, who works at a Bed, Bath & Beyond in the Beverly Center, is a part-time actress who has appeared on television shows such as “JAG” and “The District.”

West Covina Superior Court Judge Carol Williams Elswick denied a defense request to reduce her $200,000 bail, citing the seriousness of the two felony counts of attempting to dissuade a witness in the trial of Ronald Ralph Holland.

Ronald Holland, 56, is charged with 22 felony counts, including multiple counts of rape, kidnapping for ransom and forced oral copulation.

He and his alleged victim met last March while making a private video of the two of them having sex. They developed a relationship but, once it soured, Holland allegedly said he was a parole officer and threatened to imprison her unless she fulfilled his sexual fantasies. The woman has no criminal record, so it is unclear why the alleged threat made an impact.

Rebecca Holland, who lives with her ex-husband, made several telephone calls to the woman between Feb. 4 and last Sunday, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Tim Barker. The woman recorded those calls.

Rebecca Holland is heard on a message left with the victim the day before a recent preliminary hearing for her ex-husband, saying it was a “matter of life and death” that she return the call.

Then on Feb. 6, Holland is heard to tell the victim, “Your life is going to be torn to shreds. . . , “ authorities said.

She went on: “It will be in the papers from San Francisco to San Diego . . . your photo will be on the front page. I am asking you as a woman and a person to let it go, drop the charges.”

Last Sunday, a woman identifying herself as Alexandra Timmons of CNN in Melbourne, Australia,

left a message on the woman’s answer machine. Timmons, who detectives say was Holland using an accent, said she was interested in the case and wanted to “get in touch.”

During a subsequent interview with detectives, Rebecca Holland initially denied making that call and others but later admitted that it was her voice, Barker said.

Her attorney, Sammy Weiss, seemed to suggest in court that the alleged threat was no threat at all. “The victim is a porn star. She does explicit films,” he said.

Holland has had numerous health problems and has no criminal record, he said. However, in court Thursday he seemed to concede that the phone calls violated the law. “I know that’s wrong. I know that’s illegal,” he said.

Between September and November, prosecutors allege, the victim was coerced into sex 10 times and forced to go to San Diego with Ronald Holland.

The victim expressed her anger to Rebecca Holland during one of the taped conversations. “I was played for a fool,” she said.