CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
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Master salsa dance instructor Alex Da Silva was arrested Saturday on charges of sexually assaulting four of his students in his San Fernando Valley homes over the last six years, Los Angeles police said.
Da Silva, 41, who performs on the Fox television show “So You Think You Can Dance,” is being held on $3.8-million bail, police said.
Police said the four victims were all students of Da Silva at the time of the assaults.
“The victims allege that he lured them to his homes in North Hollywood and Van Nuys,” the police said in a statement. “He then used a ruse to get them into his bedroom where he raped them.”
Da Silva won the World Salsa Championships in 2002 and 2007, and currently teaches at the EDGE Performing Arts Center in Hollywood and at the Mayan club in downtown Los Angeles, police said. He also has done choreography on the Fox TV dance show.
LAPD Officer Jason Lee said anyone with information about other alleged assaults involving Da Silva should call Van Nuys Division detectives at (818) 374-1926 or, after hours, at 1-877-527-3247.
-- Kenneth R. Weiss
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