Eyal Golan released on house arrest after questioning over statutory rape allegations

Singer's father is believed to have exploited son's fame in order to have sexual relations with underage girls.

By BEN HARTMAN
Eyal Golan (photo credit: Hadad Eliran)
Eyal Golan
(photo credit: Hadad Eliran)
Singer Eyal Golan was released on house arrest Wednesday night after almost 12 hours of questioning by detectives at the Tel Aviv police headquarters, as part of his involvement in a sex crimes case. He is expected to return for further questioning on Thursday morning.
The case involves allegations that he and four other defendants had sex and did drugs with underage girls.
The other defendants, who were brought in by police on Wednesday, included Golan’s father, a Tel Aviv promoter, an employee of Golan’s and the manager of a national radio station.
On Wednesday evening Golan and two other suspects were released, while his father and one other suspect were kept in custody until a remand hearing Thursday morning in Tel Aviv.
Another Mizrahi-genre singer, Maor Edri, was brought in for questioning on Wednesday and released shortly thereafter.
He said he knew nothing of the case and denied any personal acquaintance with Golan.
It is believed that the most serious charges in the case – pandering of minors and using drugs with minors, will be directed at Golan’s father, while the singer himself will face statutory rape charges and possibly charges for using drugs with minors.
Golan’s defense is expected to be that he did not know that the girls in question were underage.
So far several girls have testified to police, who are working to check the veracity of their testimony.
It has been widely reported that police are trying to locate videos that were made of some of the alleged encounters and that they have managed to get their hands on a number of text messages sent between some of the defendants that refer to the alleged sex acts.
Police are trying to track down gifts that Golan and other defendants allegedly bought some of the girls.
Golan’s father is at the center of the case, and is believed to have exploited his son’s fame in order to have sex with underage girls.
The promoter has been suspected of taking money in order to supply girls for karaoke parties held at a Tel Aviv apartment, where some of the sex acts allegedly took place.
On Wednesday Golan’s attorneys waived his right to remain anonymous, thus ending a weeklong and at times absurd saga revolving around a gag order on Golan’s name. This came long after his identity as “the famous singer” was widely known to the public.
Over the weekend, the blogger, Omri Hayoon, who broke the case by violating a gag order last Wednesday was questioned under caution by police on suspicion of obstruction of justice.
Hayoon submitted a police complaint against public relations man Rani Rahav, who represents Golan, saying that he has led a campaign of incitement against him and he fears for his life.
The case first broke last Wednesday night, and initial reports revolved around allegations made by a single 15- year-old girl who said she had sex with Golan on more than one occasion.
Since then the case has expanded to reportedly include a large number of girls who were “scouted” by associates of Golan and who were brought to parties and events attended by the singer, his father and his friends.
On Wednesday Rahav’s public relations firm sent out an announcement saying that Golan was stepping down as a judge on the singing contest television program Rising Star, and Keshet announced that it would not be running an additional season of Golan’s singing contest Eyal Golan Is Calling You.
Golan’s attorney Ronen Rosenbloom said Wednesday at police headquarters that his client “believes in himself” and that “the investigation is still being carried out and when it’s finished we’ll issue our version of events.”