OAKLAND — A pair of undercover Oakland cops last week dressed up like sex workers and headed off to the 500 block of International Boulevard with the hopes of attracting suspected pimps or men attempting to buy sex.
Apparently, their disguises were effective.
At about 6:15 p.m., the officers were accosted by a man who pulled up in a 2005 silver Dodge Magnum and rolled down the window, authorities said.
“You ought to be making this money for me,” he allegedly called out to them. “You making hella contact for nothing.”
The women promptly signaled to another police unit waiting nearby in the shadows, who swooped in and arrested the man. Two days later, Alameda County prosecutors filed two felony charges against him, related not to pimping, but to a loaded gun with an extended magazine allegedly found in the Dodge.
The man was identified as 24-year-old Zaire Rucker-Jackson, a Santa Rosa resident. He was charged on Sept. 29 with carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and carrying a loaded firearm in a city, both felonies.
In a probable cause declaration, an Oakland officer wrote that the undercovers interpreted Rucker-Jackson’s words as a legitimate attempt to “aggressively” recruit them into prostitution. He was arrested on suspicion of pimping and pandering prior to the search of his car, police said.
Police say the gun found in the Dodge was unregistered and didn’t have a serial number. The officers also recovered multiple cellphones from the car, which are being reviewed for evidence of pimping or human trafficking, police said.
Rucker-Jackson was freed after posting $40,000 bail, records show. At his Sept. 29 court appearance, a judge denied a defense motion to release him outright, without bail. He has pleaded not guilty.
Source: www.mercurynews.com