Kim Fowley’s Estate, Longtime KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer Sued for Sexual Assault of Minor

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Kari Krome, a songwriter for the 1970s all-female rock band the Runaways, has filed a lawsuit against the group’s late manager, Kim Fowley, and longtime KROQ DJ and nightclub owner Rodney Bingenheimer, alleging that both of them sexually assaulted when she was a minor.

The news was first reported by Rolling Stone. “Plaintiff, Kari Krome [legal name: Carrie Mitchell] is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, sexual battery, assault, and molestation at the hands of Defendant Rodney Bingenheimer,” the lawsuit, obtained by Variety, reads in part. “When Plaintiff was approximately 13 and 14 and 15 years old, Defendant Rodney Bingenheimer and Defendant Kim Fowley used their roles, status, and power as adults, as well as their connections to and work in the music industry to gain access to manipulate, exploit, and sexually assault Plaintiff in the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

As a result of Defendant Rodney Bingenheimer’s and Defendant Kim Fowley’s sexual abuse and assault, Plaintiff has suffered severe emotional, physical and psychological distress, including shame, and guilt, economic loss, economic capacity and emotional loss.” Fowley (pictured above, center, during the 1970s), who died in 2015, has been accused of sexual assault in the past — the group’s bassist, Jackie Fox, alleged in a Huffington Post article shortly after his death that he raped her; Krome corroborated Fox’s claim and first detailed her own allegations against him in the same article.

However, the new suit represents the first time she has publicly accused Bingenheimer of sexual assault. “You can come to a conclusion or think that something isn’t right, but if you’re speaking on something too soon, a lot of