As it often does these days, the whole thing started with a viral video. A woman using the handle “cubanaangel” filmed herself confronting staff at Wi Spa in Los Angeles over what she claimed was an uncomfortable encounter in the women’s locker room with a naked man. The female staff member responding to the complaint says there’s nothing the spa can do because they “cannot discriminate” against trans women.

 

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Very quickly, the trans community began questioning the legitimacy of the video. A couple weeks after the incident Slate wrote a piece calling it a “transphobic hoax.”

Soon after the video began to go viral in transphobic corners of the internet, members of the trans community began to raise questions about it—chief among them why the video cuts out as the woman marches downstairs to confront this person she’s allegedly seen, conveniently ending before the trans woman she’s so angry about is shown. The woman also repeatedly mentions children being exposed to a penis, while no children appear on the video and the group don’t appear to have any children with them. These early doubts have been bolstered by reporting from the Los Angeles Blade that police suspect a hoax after failing to find witnesses who saw a trans woman at the spa, and that Wi Spa claims none of their trans clients had scheduled appointments that day.

In the meantime, actual street battles broke out over the incident with Antifa goons in black bloc confronting protesters and police:

Antifa fought police at the riot today outside Wi Spa in Los Angeles. Video by @TomasMorales_iv: pic.twitter.com/dnwE8VINSF

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 4, 2021

Fighting & rioting broke out at the antifa counter-protest outside the Wi Spa in Los Angeles. Antifa gathered to assault those who opposed the spa over a purported incident where a person flashed their genitals to women & girls. Video by @TomasMorales_iv: pic.twitter.com/vMt4GN3chb

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 4, 2021

Part 3 Wi Spa. Antifa is out here committing hate crimes against Christians for their beliefs. The cops watch it happen. A preacher was hit in the face with a skateboard and violently assaulted by #Antifa for pushing one of them to stop them from attacking a Christian protestor. pic.twitter.com/d8UYO1M3SQ

— rightwingsavages (@rtwngsavages) July 3, 2021

This didn’t just happen on one weekend but several times:

Police clash with Antifa counter-protesting at the Wi Spa, after several smoke bombs & water bottles were thrown at protesters across the street #WiSpa #LosAngeles pic.twitter.com/fRoXWtmAng

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) July 17, 2021

An unlawful assembly was declared:

Police push the crowd of counter-protesters away from the Wi Spa, giving orders to leave the area after declaring an unlawful assembly #WiSpa #LosAngeles pic.twitter.com/00TGQW8CYa

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) July 17, 2021

There was of course vandalism:

Antifa tags on the LA Housing Authority and other buildings around the Wi Spa #LosAngeles #WiSpa pic.twitter.com/G4c1m8kAZp

— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) July 17, 2021

So after all of the fighting and claims the entire thing was a hoax, today Andy Ngo reports in the NY Post that charges of indecent exposure have been filed against a sex offender in this case.

Sources with knowledge of the case but not authorized to speak publicly say four women and a minor girl came forward to allege that Darren Agee Merager was partially erect in the women’s section of Wi Spa…

Merager, who spoke exclusively The Post, denies the allegations and says that she is actually the victim of transphobic harassment…

“Everything about the Wi Spa was a bunch of garbage and lies,” Merager said in an interview. She says she is legally female in California and was in a jacuzzi in the women’s section when she was accosted by “Cubana Angel.”

Merager’s credibility as a victim is difficult to take seriously in light of previous convictions for indecent exposure which suggest a pattern of behavior:

Law-enforcement sources revealed that Merager is a tier-one registered sex offender with two prior convictions of indecent exposure stemming from incidents in 2002 and 2003 in California. She declined to comment on the convictions. In 2008, she was convicted for failing to register as a sex offender…

In addition to Merager’s new felony charges of indecent exposure, she is also facing six felony counts of indecent exposure over a separate locker room incident in December 2018. Los Angeles County prosecutors accuse Merager of indecent exposure to women and children in a changing area at a swimming pool in West Hollywood Park.

Ngo reports that Merager has about a dozen other felony convictions for various crimes in California. So the idea that Merager was just an innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time is going to be a tough sell to a jury.

Looking at the California exposure statute, there’s nothing in it about men or women. It just requires that someone was offended by your display of your naked genitals. First offense is a misdemeanor and a second offense is a felony. Given that Merager is already a convicted sex offender and that he has two pending cases for the same behavior I’m guessing these are going to be felonies that could result in prison time.

But I suppose there will be people who still believe Merager is the victim here who won’t be dissuaded by a dozen previous convictions. We’ll have to wait and see how the far left takes this news. Here’s a local news report from July on the sometimes violent debate over this issue.