Songwriter Joseph Brooks, writer of 'You Light Up My Life', suspect in sex attacks
Monday, January 12th 2009, 12:39 AM
An Upper East Side songwriter who won an Academy Award for the '70s Debbie Boone ballad "You Light Up My Life" is a suspect in five sexual assaults, law enforcement and police sources said.
Joseph Brooks played up his Hollywood connections on Craigslist Web postings to lure aspiring models and actresses to his apartment, where he forced himself on them, sources said.
The 70-year-old movie director - who made his money writing jingles for Pepsi and Geritol - is a suspect in two rapes, a sodomy case and two sexual assaults, sources told the Daily News.
The women were hooked by Brooks' promise of parts in his next movie, sources said. He boasted about his Oscar and offer to show it to them at his pad.
Two of the victims reported being doped with date-rape drugs, sources said. Others believe their drinks were spiked. Toxicology results have been inconclusive.
One of the victims has hired a lawyer and is weighing a civil case against Brooks.
Manhattan prosecutors are negotiating with Brooks' lawyer to talk with investigators.
Brooks declined to comment on the allegations, or the threat of a civil suit, other than to say he suffered a debilitating stroke about six months ago.
The first of the alleged assaults was in November 2006, and involved a 22-year-old woman who said she was sexually abused at the Carlyle Hotel.
Another assault allegedly took place in Brooks' apartment in May 2007. Three more took place over a two-week stretch near Brooks' 70th birthday in March 2008, law enforcement sources said.
Brooks wrote, directed and bankrolled the 1977 romance flick "You Light Up My Life," and penned the title track.
He turned to moviemaking after a successful career writing jingles, including a 1970s Pepsi Generation campaign with the lyrics, "You got a lot to live and Pepsi's got a lot to give, yeah Pepsi's got a lot to give."
