Model Dean Kelly charged with contraband

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Former model Dean Kelly, imprisoned in New Orleans for alleged sexual assault, has been charged with possessing contraband, officials said.

Kelly has been held the Orleans Parish Prison in lieu of $2.85 million bond since March. A grand jury indicted him in June for allegedly raping a 17-year-old in December 2005. In August, he was charged separately with raping a 14-year-old in February 2005.

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune said Kelly, 40, was most recently charged with hiding two 8-inch metal rods in his cell.

His lawyer Frank DeSalvo said he couldn't confirm whether Kelly possessed the rods, but said guards aren't protecting him from being beaten by his fellow inmates and suggested he might have obtained the items to defend himself.

"I don't know whether he was doing anything with them or if they were even his," the newspaper quoted DeSalvo as saying. "He's had the bejeezus beaten out of him twice in jail. He's got a scar across his forehead. I'd have as many shanks as I could get my hands on. They're not protecting him. He's got to protect himself."

Kelly is best known for appearing in Aerosmith's 1994 music video "Crazy," with actresses Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler.

Kelly is due in court Jan. 4, The Times-Picayune said.