A 69-year-old man was either entrapped or actually trying to pay for sex with an 18-year-old, but he’s not the one facing charges, as the alleged sex worker and pimp are accused of robbing him, beating him up, and pepper-spraying him.

The Bay Area News Group brings us the story of a 69-year-old man who was beaten up, robbed, and pepper-sprayed by an alleged 18-year-old sex worker and the man she says is her 31-year-old pimp, Nicholas Lewis. The two are facing charges of robbery and elder abuse, while the 18-year-old Janiya Brown Lee has an additional felony charge for allegedly pepper-spraying the victim.

But that 69-year-old victim, who is not named in court documents, claims he wasn’t even trying to pay for sex, and the two entrapped him, with Brown Lee claiming she needed help in some sort of “emergency.”  

That victim says that Brown Lee "flagged [him] down" and asked for a ride to the Travel Inn hotel in Oakland, where the alleged attack took place. He said under oath that Brown Lee then propositioned him for sex, and started grabbing at his belt buckle, though he claims he resisted, saying “I’m a married man.”

"She tried to give me some [oral sex], and I told her, ‘No,’" he testified on the stand. "And then she went and knocked on the door. And the guy came in. And that’s when I started getting beat up."

There seems little question that the alleged pimp Lewis has been involved with pimping in the past. The News Group described him as “well known to vice investigators in Oakland.” He was already under investigation for multiple other charges of pimping and pandering, and was convicted of such in Orange County in 2020.

Additionally, prosecutors showed texts from him to Brown Lee saying, "I always have hella [sex workers] I’m not these lil boys (sic)," and that "I’m a real pimp you can quit with all that."

And Brown Lee’s attorney appears to have turned against him, arguing he was forcing the 18-year-old to get “caught up in a lifestyle she doesn’t want to continue.”

"This is a situation where I think she was being somewhat manipulated into doing what she was doing at the time of this incident," her lawyer told the court. "She’s young, she’s impressionable."

Brown Lee was released from jail pending trial, and Lewis is put an a reported $75,000 bail. The two were charged in February, and the court information above comes for their March 28 preliminary hearing. A trial date has not yet been set.

Related: 54-Year-Old San Francisco Man Charged With Robbing, Assaulting Sex Workers and Robbing Their Johns In Oakland [SFist]

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One of SF's most notorious Twitter provocateurs and “anti-crime” Fox News guests finds himself in SF County Jail today, after being arrested at SFO on pimping and pandering charges that allege he ran a sex work ring from his upscale apartment.

On most days, one of social media’s premiere San Francisco-bashing “influencer” types “Raw Ricci” Wynne is either posting shaming videos of drug use and homelessness to his 100,000-plus followers on social media, or going on Fox News to complain about crime in San Francisco.

But on this day, Wynne is in SF County Jail, as the SF Standard was first to report that Wynne had been arrested on pimping and pandering charges Sunday night. The Chronicle has a follow-up noting Wynne was arrested at 8:50 pm and booked into jail at 2 am Monday morning.  

The Standard notes that Wynne landed at SFO after he had been “traveling with a 30-year-old woman investigators believe he was pimping out for sex work.” They also report that police searched Wynne’s 28th floor apartment at Fremont and Harrison streets and found about $80,000 in cash.

Police reportedly also searched three cellphones allegedly belonging to Wynne which the Standard reports “contained evidence of sex work, including rates: $500 to $600 an hour for in-calls, and $700 for outcalls.” Wynne has reportedly denied the phones belong to him.

Oh, and in an update, the Standard added that “Wynne’s arrest sprang from an investigation that named him as a suspect in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old.” So it seems there is plenty more news to come from Ricci Wynne’s arrest.

But boy does this create an uncomfortable look for SF Mayor-Elect Daniel Lurie, who appeared with Wynne in a pre-election video. Wynne was quite vocal in supporting Lurie on his @RawRicci415 Twitter account, and said that Lurie was “the only politician that has came and walked the Tenderloin with me to make sure that we’re going to clean up the city.”

As of press time for this post, Wynne still shows as being in SF County Jail custody. The Chronicle reminds us of the lengthy prior rap sheet of this supposedly reformed drug dealer, including a 2018 arrest after he’d promored a “cocaine buffet” on Snapchat. A police raid found cocaine, a stolen and loaded Glock pistol, and one underage woman, all for which Wynne is still on probation after time served.  

And it should maybe not be a surprise that Ricci Wynne is a very vocal Trumper, and right-wing agitator who claims “Citizens journalism is the new wave” because traditional media is “payed puppet paparazzi.” Now that traditional media broke news of Ricci’s pimping arrest, we might expect some sort of deep-state/media conspiracies from the SF-bashing crowd on Twitter. Though given the incoming presidential administration’s fondness for those accused of sex crimes, maybe Ricci Wynne will get a Trump cabinet appointment out of all of this.  

Related: It Will Always Be More Profitable/Clickable to Shit On San Francisco, So People Will Always Do It [SFist]

Image: @RawRicci415 via Twitter