Penalty for men accused of robbing Oakland sex buyers: Probation for one, 9 days in jail for the other

OAKLAND — Alameda County prosecutors have struck plea deals with two alleged robbers, both of whom were accused of luring their victims into a false sense of security with the help of a suspected prostitute.

In one case, Nicholas Lewis, 31, was sentenced to nine days he already served in jail plus probation after pleading no contest to grand theft. In another, Luis Silva, 24, also pleaded no contest to grand theft for a two-year probation term, court records show.

The cases were separate but involved similar allegations. Lewis was accused of robbing and pepper-spraying a man with the help of 18-year-old Janiya Brown Lee. Police say a 69-year-old victim was robbed at the Travel Inn on the 400 block of West MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland on the night of Jan. 11. On the witness stand, he denied seeking the company of a prostitute, explaining that, “I’m a married man.”

Brown Lee’s case was eventually dismissed, court records show. Her lawyer argued at the preliminary hearing that she was young and “impressionable” and had likely been manipulated into the situation.

Silva was accused of robbing a man at a local Motel 6 after he picked up Monica Trujillo-Ramirez, 29, at a high-prostitution neighborhood and went to the hotel with her. Trujillo-Ramirez was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading no contest to theft, records show.

The two incidents were part of a string of similar crimes involving men who allegedly came to Oakland looking to trade money for sex, only to fall prey to robbery plots.

Past examples include one from last year, where four men and an alleged sex worker from Mississippi were charged with burglarizing a hotel and robbing a man who was shot during the ordeal. All of them have taken plea deals for sentences ranging from two years of probation to two years in prison, except one, who jumped bail after accepting a pea deal and has a warrant for his arrest, court records show.