Sordid past exposed
Twist in trans furor at LA spa
The person charged with indecent exposure at Wi Spa in Los Angeles — a case that led to violent clashes between protesters and transgender activists — is still at large, as sordid new details of their criminal record have emerged.
A judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court issued a second arrest warrant for Darren Agee Merager, 52, on Sept. 8 after Merager failed to appear at a hearing related to six felony charges of indecent exposure over a previous case at a West Hollywood swimming pool.
Merager, a registered sex offender in California for two indecent-exposure convictions, identifies as a woman, but law-enforcement sources say that’s a ruse to get into women-only areas.
In the Wi Spa case, Merager is accused of exposing an erect penis to four women and a girl in the Koreatown business’ women’s section.
Speaking to The Post, Merager said of the warrant: “I consider this a kidnapping. My anonymity is being ruined in a slanderous way.”
Merager’s latest legal woes began on June 24, when a video uploaded to Instagram by a user, “Cubana Angel,” showed a woman complaining to Wi Spa staff about a person exposing themself in the women’s area.
The incident led to weeks of rioting involving Antifa and opposing protesters.
Merager was charged as the suspect on Aug. 30.
Sources say that Merager was banned by Wi Spa in 2019 over similar customer complaints, but that Merager wasn’t recognized by the front desk in June because they were wearing a mask.
Wi Spa did not respond to a request for comment.
“I don’t remember being banned,” Merager said, adding that there had been one complaint but claiming it was meritless and transphobic.
Five women, including Cubana Angel and a girl, came forward as victims to LA police, alleging Merager was partially erect.
In the West Hollywood case, women and girls accuse Merager of being erect in the pool’s changing room. But Merager says they mistakenly believed his large appendage was erect.
“I don’t have a small penis, but you can’t say that’s an erection,” Merager said. “What if you used the men’s room and someone said they don’t
like the size or shape of your penis? That’s what they’re doing.”
This isn’t Merager’s first exposure case.
Merager was convicted in 2003 for looking through the window of an elderly woman’s home in Arcadia, Calif., while masturbating.
“I may have been somewhere I didn’t belong, but I wasn’t doing it for gratification, and I wasn’t showing myself off,” Merager said, adding that it was a mistake to plead guilty and that they couldn’t remember if they masturbated on the property.
Merager has also been implicated in sex-crime investigations that did not result in charges.
In June 2018, while on parole for a burglary conviction, Merager was identified as a suspect in an alleged indecent-exposure incident at a gas station in Burbank, Calif.
According to the police report, surveillance video showed a person in a fishnet-style outfit standing by a pump and lifting a leg to expose themself. Merager was identified by a vehicle license plate. No victims came forward, and the case was closed.
“[My parole officer] investigated me the next day, and I was 100 percent cleared,” Merager said.
Then, on Dec. 26, 2018, police were called to the Palm Springs Swim Center on an allegation that Merager exposed their penis to members of a high-school girls’ water-polo team in the women’s changing room.
“Merager advised he was only showering and did not masturbate or touch himself inappropriately,” the police report reads.
They weren’t arrested or charged. Merager says the accusations are evidence of “systemic transphobia” and claims the Wi Spa accusers are lying to cops and motivated by hate.
“Even if I was the worst person in the world, you’re allowed to access the facility [of your gender],” Merager said, adding that she is legally female in California.
Police are still seeking Merager. “They’re having a tough time tracking me down,” Merager said. “That’s good. They’ll find me when I turn myself in.”