NEW YORK -- A New York City prosecutor says the Oscar-winning songwriter and director behind "You Light Up My Life" has been charged with several counts rape and sexual assault, and his assistant, who is from Federal Way, also faces related charges.

Joseph Brooks pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court. A 91-count indictment accuses him of rape, criminal sexual act, sexual abuse, assault and other offenses.

Prosecutors say 71-year-old Brooks sexually assaulted 11 women at his New York apartment. They allege he used his Hollywood credentials on the Craigslist classified ads Web site to attract 11 women aged 18 to 30. His ad sought attractive young women for a starring role in a movie, they said.

Ten of the 11 made the mistake of answering an ad on Craigslist. Last January one of the alleged victims angrily told the New York Post Brooks should face the music.

Loretta Spruell, a Seattle-area resident and former contestant on "American Idol," told the Post she went to Brooks' apartment for an audition.

"Í was scared and I was trapped," she said. "I said, 'I can't do this.' But he tore off my clothes.'

At least seven women from the West Coast responded to Brooks' Craigslist advertisement. They flew to New York from Oregon, Washington and California, hoping for stardom. They wound up on a casting couch where, according to investigators, Brooks sexually assaulted or raped them.

Brooks became a suspect after one woman went to a hospital and reported what had happened and another complained to authorities in February and March 2008, prosecutors said.

Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal, the lead prosecutor, said she found other victims by searching the computers of Brooks and his assistant - Shawni Lucier of Federal Way, Wash. - and cold-calling women whose names she saw.

"We have records from his and his assistant's computers that connect him to these women," she said.

Brooks' attorney tells a different story.

"We have a bunch of people who were auditioning for parts who did not get the parts, who were angry and upset they did not get the part," said his attorney, Jeffrey Hoffman.

But prosecutors say this was a casting call for sex, and Lucier helped find the victims.

"She helped pick the victims. She set up the travel arrangements. he assured them there was an actual project going on. She drove some to the apartment," said Lisa Friel, chief sex crimes investigator.
"
The mothers of these girls called and she (Lucier) reassured them this was a legitimate program," said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morenthau. "Four of these girls were only 18 years old."

Lucier is scheduled to turn herself in later this week to face nine counts of Criminal Facilitation, punishable by up to a year in prison if convicted.

Brooks won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the 1977 ballad "You Light Up My Life." He also wrote and directed the film of the same name. The romantic comedy is about a comedian who has a one-night stand with a director.

Brooks faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of first-degree rape.