Registered sex-offender identifying as a woman - who sparked a riot after 'exposing erect penis to young girl in women's section of LA spa' - is CHARGED with indecent exposure... and it’s not the first time
Months after a trans woman allegedly exposed herself in front of several spa-goers at Wi Spa in Los Angeles—including an underage girl—charges have finally been filed, with serial sex offender Darren Agee Merager, 52, being identified as the sole suspect in the highly publicized incident.
What's more, in addition to being a suspect in the case, Merager is facing multiple felony charges of indecent exposure in regards to a separate incident in Los Angeles.
In addition to charges stemming from the Wi Spa altercation, she is also facing six felony counts of indecent exposure over a separate locker room incident in December 2018.
Darren Merager, 52, is also accused of indecent exposure to women and children in a changing area at a swimming pool in West Hollywood Park
The incident led to months of protests—some of them violent—as progressives clashed on their interpretations of the strange alleged occurrence
Back in June, a group of women complained that Merager, who identifies as female, allegedly exposed her penis at the Wi Spa in Los Angeles to them—with one of them being an underage girl
In that particular incident, Merager is accused of indecent exposure to women and children in a changing area at a swimming pool in West Hollywood Park—eerily similar to the occurrence at the spa.
'Merager claims to identify as female so he can access women's locker rooms and showers,' reads an internal flyer by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that was sent to law enforcement departments in Southern California in late 2018, in regards to the indecent exposure at West Hollywood Park.
Despite a checkered background, though, Merager is maintaining her innocence in the Wi Spa debacle, telling The New York Post that she is actually the victim—of transphobic harassment.
Back in June, a group of women complained that Merager, who identifies as female, exposed her penis at the Los Angeles spa.
The incident led to months of protests—some of them violent—with a multitude of media outlets declaring the alleged assault an example of bias against the transgendered; or worse, that it didn't even happen.
However, on Monday, charges of indecent exposure were filed against Merager, following an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Sources close the case but not authorized to speak publicly told The Post that four women and a young girl came forward to allege that Merager was partially erect in the women's section of Wi Spa.
On June 23, a group of women attending the spa confronted staff over accusations that a person exposed their penis in the women's section.
Video of the interaction was posted the following day on Instagram by a woman using the name 'Cubana Angel.'
So far, the LAPD have confirmed very few details about the concerning incident, saying only that the investigation is 'ongoing.'
However, this week, a warrant was issued in Los Angeles County for the arrest of Merager, who resides in Riverside, based on five felony counts of indecent exposure in connection with the Wi Spa incident.
Merager has not been arrested.
Merager is a tier-one registered sex offender with two prior convictions of indecent exposure stemming from incidents in 2002 and 2003 in California
The Mail also recently reported that Merager had previously exposed himself to another underage girl back in 2020, also at Wi Spa, when the girl and her mother visited the establishment last January.
'Everything about the Wi Spa was a bunch of garbage and lies,' Merager told The Post. She added that she is legally female, and was in a jacuzzi in the women's section when she was accosted by 'Cubana Angel.'
'She never saw me naked.' she added. 'I was underwater with water all the way up to my chest.'
Merager also denied ever being erect or around children at the spa. She says she is the target of an organized effort of sexual harassment by transphobic women at the Wi Spa.
Merager added that this incident in conjunction with her other open cases involving accusations of indecent exposure show a 'pattern of abuse' from a state and society that punishes transgender people.
'You allow [trans women] to go in there [women's spaces] and then people simply claim indecent exposure and you're arrested,' she added.
Merager also stated she is now speaking with progressive California lawmakers, like state senator Scott Wiener, in the hope that they change state law to better protect trans people's rights.
'If you go into an area where you're expected to be nude, there has to be an indecent exposure exemption,' she told The Post, adding that she may file complaints or lawsuits for the discrimination she says she has been made to suffer by law enforcement and women in the Wi Spa.
Law-enforcement sources revealed that Merager is also tier-one registered sex offender with two prior convictions of indecent exposure, stemming from incidents in 2002 and 2003 in California.
Merager declined to comment on those particular convictions when asked by The Post. What's more, in 2008, she was convicted for failing to register as a sex offender.
She says she has been in contact with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office since learning of the warrant and plans to turn herself in.
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