Alex Da Silva, 41, a well-known salsa dancer who teaches at several Los Angeles dance studios, was taken into custody after teaching a class at a Hollywood studio and booked for investigation of sexual assault, Det. John Eum said. Da Silva, who was being held on $3.8 million bail, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.It wasn't immediately known whether the Brazilian-born Da Silva has retained an attorney. The voicemail for a phone number posted on his Web site was full and wouldn't accept messages. Da Silva had been accused in 2003, 2004 and 2005 of sexually assaulting three women, but for unknown reasons prosecutors declined to file charges, Eum said. A dancer and choreographer featured on the FOX television show "So You Think You Can Dance" was arrested Saturday on suspicion of sexually assaulting four of his dance students, police said.
Then on March 28, a fourth woman accused Da Silva of luring her to his home, using a ruse to get her into his bedroom and raping her. Detectives went back to interview the previous accusers, found similar accusations of being lured to Da Silva's bedroom and sexually assaulted by him, and reopened their cases. "These four women don't know each other at all, yet their reports read basically the same," the detective said. He noted that one of the accusers was a minor at the time of the alleged assault.
