East Bay man charged with human trafficking, raping woman
October 11, 2021
FREMONT — A San Leandro man has been charged with trafficking a woman across California and raping her at knife point after she refused to “work” for him last July, court records show.
Ricky Levi, 29, was charged last month with human trafficking, pimping, and pandering, as well as forcible rape and oral copulation, court records show. He is due in court for an arraignment Tuesday morning at the Alameda County courthouse in Dublin and remains in Santa Rita Jail in lieu of $550,000 bail.
The charging records allege a single victim for all eight felony counts. According to Fremont police, the woman — known in court records only by the pseudonym “Jane Doe” — showed up at the police department lobby July 12 to report that Levi had raped her after she refused to prostitute one night. She reportedly told police he used a knife to cut her clothing and sexually assault her outside of a car a week earlier, and showed police ripped clothing that was photographed as evidence of the assault.
According to a sworn statement by Fremont police Ofc. Rachel Nieves, the woman told authorities that back in March she initially agreed to sex work with Levi as her pimp because she believed he “presented her with an opportunity to make money and have fun.”
Doe allegedly said for the next several months, they travelled to Los Angeles, Richmond, Oakland, and other cities, staying in hotels and driving in Levi’s Lexus and using “escort” websites to place advertisements. As time went on, she tried to stop sex work but he wouldn’t let her, she told authorities.
“(Doe) said she initially participated in the prostitution on her own free will. As the relationship with Levi continued, she engaged in the position by force, against her will, and because of the beatings,” Nieves wrote.
When police interviewed Levi on Sept. 2, the day he was arrested, he allegedly admitted to providing Doe with a cellphone and said that it was possible the phone was linked to prostitution ads because Doe would place them herself. He denied raping Doe, telling police that after the two had consensual sex she took his knife and used it to cut her own clothes, according to court records.
After Levi enters a plea, a preliminary hearing date will be set where a judge will review evidence and determine if there is enough to order Levi to stand trial.
San Leandro man charged with human trafficking, raping woman
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