Transgender Acquitted in LA Korean Spa Exposure Case Despite Past Sex Crime Convictions

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury has acquitted Darren Agee Merager, the transgender woman at the center of the widely publicized 2021 Wi Spa incident, citing insufficient evidence of sexual intent. The case has drawn renewed attention to California’s Gender Recognition Act and the legal complexities surrounding transgender access to gendered spaces.

Jury Finds No Sexual Intent in Wi Spa Exposure Case

Merager, a 55-year-old biological male who is legally registered as female, was charged with five counts after allegedly exposing genitalia in the women’s section of Wi Spa, a Korean American-operated spa in Los Angeles, in June 2021. The incident gained national attention after video footage taken by a customer circulated widely on social media.

At the time, Merager was reportedly sitting nude in the spa’s jacuzzi, prompting other female patrons to call the police. Prosecutors claimed the exposure was intentional and sexually motivated, but the jury rejected this argument.

On May 30, jurors deliberated for just 90 minutes before finding Merager not guilty. They concluded that the prosecution failed to prove intent to arouse or offend. Testimonies from key witnesses were inconsistent, and the video did not clearly show signs of arousal—an element central to the charges.

Merager has prior convictions for indecent exposure in 2002 and 2003 and was added to the sex offender registry in 2006. However, those past offenses were not enough to support a conviction in the Wi Spa case under current California law.

Legal Gender Status Raises Questions About Public Access

The verdict highlights growing legal tensions around gender identity and public accommodations in California. Under the 2018 Gender Recognition Act, Merager was allowed to change her gender marker to female through the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) without needing medical certification. That legal status granted her access to female-only facilities such as spas and locker rooms.

Following the verdict, Merager stated her intention to continue using women-only spaces. Legal observers note the case underscores the challenges of balancing individual gender identity rights with the privacy concerns of others in shared public environments.

Federal Court Rejects Korean American Spa’s Challenge in Washington

In a related legal development, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit filed by Olympus Spa, a Korean American women-only spa in Washington state, which sought to bar transgender women from entry.

The spa had argued that being forced to admit transgender women with male genitalia violated their First Amendment rights and cultural values. However, in a 2–1 ruling on May 29, the court found no constitutional basis for their claim.

Judge Margaret McKeown (appointed by President Bill Clinton) wrote that the First Amendment “does not provide a basis to challenge the state’s action in requiring the inclusion of transgender women.”

In dissent, Judge Kenneth Lee (Kiyul Lee, appointed by President Donald Trump) argued that Olympus Spa had consistently operated under the same policy for over 20 years and was being penalized based on a single complaint. He noted that traditional Korean jjimjilbangs often involve full nudity during services such as communal bathing and body scrubbing. Requiring women and girls—including a 13-year-old—to share such spaces with individuals with male genitalia, he said, amounted to a serious invasion of privacy.

Myoon Woon Lee, president of Olympus Spa, called the ruling biased and told the Korea Daily on May 30 that the spa intends to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

BY BRIAN CHOI [choi.inseong@koreadaily.com]
AND KYEONGJUN KIM [kim.kyeongjun1@koreadaily.com]