Choreographer Alex Da Silva arrested for sexual assault

[Wicked Doll]

A dancer and choreographer featured on the FOX television show "So You Think You Can Dance" was arrested Saturday on suspicion of sexually assaulting four of his dance students, police said.

Alex Da Silva, 41, a well-known salsa dancer who teaches at several Los Angeles dance studios, was taken into custody after teaching a class at a Hollywood studio and booked for investigation of sexual assault, Det. John Eum said.

Da Silva, who was being held on $3.8 million bail, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.

It wasn't immediately known whether the Brazilian-born Da Silva has retained an attorney. The voicemail for a phone number posted on his Web site was full and wouldn't accept messages.

Da Silva had been accused in 2003, 2004 and 2005 of sexually assaulting three women, but for unknown reasons prosecutors declined to file charges, Eum said.

Full story here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entert...,5611221.story

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A salsa dance instructor and choreographer on the Fox television show "So You Think You Can Dance" was arrested Tuesday morning on a felony warrant charging him with sexually assaulting four women.
[...]

Da Silva initially was arrested in April during a class he was teaching at the EDGE Performing Arts Center in Hollywood.

The choreographer was briefly jailed but released after the L.A. County district attorney's office declined to file charges and asked detectives to resubmit the case with additional evidence.

Los Angeles police investigators alleged that Da Silva raped four female students using various ruses to get them into his bedroom, such as wanting to show them new clothes or asking for help fixing his computer.

At the time of his original arrest, Silva's attorney Harland Braun told The Times, the case was a misunderstanding of “the difference between seduction and rape.” On Tuesday, Braun had no immediate comment on the search warrant and was critical of the bail amount.
[...]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...l-assault.html

[myra manes]

The difference between seduction and rape???
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight ..

Hope the fucker stays in jail this time ..

[carolinablue]

maybe big bubba will demonstrate to him the REAL difference b/w seduction and rape.

[biteme]

where did he buy his 'get out of jail FREE card" ?
seems he walked on a lot of cases

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A one-time choreographer on the Fox TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” was found guilty by a jury Friday of raping one woman and assaulting another female victim with intent to commit rape.

A downtown Los Angeles jury found Alex Da Silva, 43, guilty of raping a 22-year-old woman in August 2002 and assault with intent to commit rape involving another woman in March 2009, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Martha Carrillo. Jurors, however, were hung when it came to four other charges involving two more alleged victims of the salsa dance instructor.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy declared a mistrial on those charges. Prosecutors said they are still deciding whether to seek to retry the dancer on those four counts -- two counts each of sexual penetration by a foreign object and forcible rape.
[...]

He is slated to appear again Nov. 8 for possible sentencing. He faces up to 14 years in prison on the charges he was convicted of Friday.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...d-assault.html

[Whisper]

"So You Think You Can Dance" Salsa Instructor Sentenced For Rape: Alex Da Silva Gets 10 Years
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...html?ref=crime