Orlando entrepreneur and former Paris Hilton nightclub owner Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian turned himself in this afternoon to face rape charges, the Orlando Police Department said.
The charges stem from early last Friday when a woman contacted police and accused the nationally known nightclub owner of raping her in his home in the Waverly on Lake Eola Condominiums on East Central Boulevard, said Sgt. Barbara Jones.
Khalilian drew national attention in 2004 when he and socialite Paris Hilton opened pink-themed Club Paris at Church Street Station in Orlando. The venture subsequently closed and re-opened this year as Dolce Nightclub. (See photos of Paris Hilton and Khalilian at Club Paris.) Police searched for Khalilian on Wednesday after a SWAT team failed to find him at his Waverly Apartments home. An e-mail from Orlando Police at 5:13 p.m. said Khalilian had turned himself in and was being processed at the booking center at Orange County Jail.
Reached by cell phone earlier, Khalilian told the Orlando Sentinel that he was aware the warrant issued for his arrest.
"Right now, I'm seeing my lawyer," he said, saying he had retained Orlando lawyer Mark NeJame to represent him and contact police.
His accuser, a woman in her 20's, told police she was attacked between 3:30 and 5:30 on Nov. 9 after leaving Khalilian's nightclub and going home with him, Jones said.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
