NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – A magazine photographer was charged Tuesday with having sex with a 15-year-old girl by luring her with promises of a modeling career, prosecutors said.
Jason Ellis, 33, of Newport Beach was charged with six counts of sex acts with a minor, including statutory rape. The Orange County district attorney's office said Ellis took the girl on movie and dinner dates and had sex with her over the last year.
Michelle Hecker, 31, his fiancee, faces the same felony charges for allegedly arranging meetings between Ellis and the girl. Prosecutors said Hecker picked the girl up from her parents' home under the pretense of going horseback riding but took her to meet Ellis.
The parents became suspicious and hired a private investigator to track their daughter, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.
Hecker and Ellis each face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Ellis was being held on $100,000 bail pending a July 18 arraignment. An arrest warrant was issued for Hecker.
A message left at a phone number listed on Ellis' Web site was not immediately returned.
Ellis has worked on Calvin Klein ads and has shot bodybuilding photos for magazine covers, according to his Web site.
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