Bail Set at $270,000 for Suspect in Rape of Japanese Tourist

By Jim Stebinger

Thursday, May 27 -- A salesman accused of raping a Japanese tourist he met on the Third Street Promenade goes to court next Tuesday in an effort to reduce his bail, the district attorney has announced.

Kevin Hugh Lewis, 41, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Culver City Municipal Court Division 2 to one count each of forcible rape, use of drugs in commission of a rape and penetration by a foreign object.

Bail was set at $270,000 and Tuesday's hearing will determine whether to reduce the amount. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled at a June 7 hearing, the district attorney's office said.

The Marina del Rey salesman allegedly attacked a 20-year-old Japanese woman on Saturday and was arrested Sunday, according to a statement by the public information department of the district attorney's office.

According to Dep. Dist. Atty. Barbara Block, who filed the case, Lewis travels to Japan on business and speaks Japanese. He met the woman at the Promenade, where she was separated from a tour group.

Authorities allege that Lewis struck up a conversation with the woman, invited her to dinner, then took her to his Marina del Rey home, where he assaulted her.

Block says the unidentified woman was returned to the Third Street Promenade, where she then called a taxi to take her to her hotel. Because she appeared disoriented and ill she was taken to a hospital and then to a rape treatment center.