'Soul Train' Creator Don Cornelius Accused of Heinous Crimes
Soul Train creator Don Cornelius is the subject of a heinous criminal allegation. In Monday night's episode of the A&E documentary series Secrets of Playboy, former Playboy "bunny mother" P.J. Masten alleges the TV producer sexually assaulted two young women and held them against their will for days.
"It was probably the most horrific story I've ever heard at Playboy," Masten recalled on the episode of the alleged attack, per PEOPLE. "This story is the story of a massive cleanup that never hit the press."
Masten described Cornelius in the episode as one of the high-powered players who was a regular face within the Playboy mansion. She claims there was one night when he noticed two new recruits hanging out at a dance bar in Hollywood where the rest of the bunnies were known to party. He invited the two to join him in his VIP section before asking the new girls if they wanted to join him for a party at his house later.
"These two young girls got in his Rolls-Royce, went up to his house and we didn't hear from them for three days," Masten claimed. "We couldn't figure out where they were."
After three days, one of the girls supposedly managed to finally get free and called one of the mothers at the mansion for help. One of the security guys from the mansion, Joe Piastro, went to pick up the sisters and once they arrived, the girls were "bloodied, battered [and] drugged." The two girls, who are not named in the documentary, allegedly said they were kept apart and locked in separate rooms.
"They were tied up and bound," Masten said. "There were wooden objects that they were sodomized with and [one sister] could hear [the] other sister being brutalized. It was horrible, horrible." Masten alleges police reports weren't filed despite Playboy's policy because the sister who managed to escape was told that the incident was being handled internally. She and the rest of the girls were advised not to speak on the issue.
"The thing that was so outrageous to me, that made me so angry was that no charges were filed and Don Cornelius' privileges as a number one VIP were never suspended. He was back in the club the following week,' Masten added, getting emotional. "These young girls, what they went through, nobody has any idea, My job was to pick up the pieces. I had to pick up the pieces of these kids. They were kids!"
She continued: "I blame myself a lot, I have such guilt about not coming forward, but I knew that the establishment wouldn't allow me to come forward. And who's going to believe me? Nobody's going to believe me."
Cornelius was never investigated for the sexual assault, though he was brought up and convicted on unrelated domestic charges in 2008. Cornelius' son Tony disregarded the allegations calling them "unbelievable story without real proof" and "salaciousness" in a statement to PEOPLE. Don died in 2012 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after suffering from seizures for 15 years and going through "extreme pain," according to his son.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.