OAKLAND — A local boxer who has been in jail on child molestation and trafficking charges since 2023 now faces new allegations that he broke a deputy’s nose with a punch during recreation time, court records show.
Lennard Davis, 32, was charged this month with four new felonies, including battery on a peace officer, resisting arrest and two charges of committing crimes within a jail. Davis already faces allegations that he molested three girls, forcibly trafficked two of the victims, assaulted and threatened the third and filmed acts of sexual abuse involving all three. The girls were between 13 and 15 years old at the time.
Davis has been held without bail since August 2023, despite several attempts his attorneys have made to free him by accusing prosecutors of racism or the media of putting him in danger at Santa Rita Jail. He now faces an additional hurdle to his release, with bail set at $145,000 in the battery case, and a plea hearing scheduled for Jan. 31, court record show.
These new charges stem from a May 2024 incident in which Davis allegedly punched Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew Rodriguez in the face, fracturing his nose, after complaining to Rodriguez about a new cellmate Davis had been assigned. The attack occurred during a recreation period at the jail, authorities said. Davis, once a professional welterweight boxer, was not charged until Jan. 8.
In August 2023, prosecutors charged Davis with multiple counts of sexually abusing minors, criminal threats, assault, human trafficking and possession of child pornography as part of a 10-count felony complaint. The three alleged victims told police that Davis met them in various ways, with one first claiming she answered a Facebook ad to babysit his child, but later saying he approached her as she walked on an Oakland sidewalk, according to court records.
Despite the seriousness of the charges, he received support letters from a San Pablo pastor describing him as a “fine young man,” and two family members who called him generous and loving. His lawyer at the start of his case argued that he should be released from jail as an inspiring athlete and “pillar” in the local community. Later, Davis’ lawyers accused prosecutors of racism for referring to Davis — who is Black — as a “predator” and now say that a prosecution offer of a 31-year prison sentence is far more than a white person with similar charges would receive, court records show.
Prosecutors have countered with letters of their own, some authored by Davis’ alleged victims. They also say that in 2023, one of the girls received an anonymous text calling her a “snitch” and warning her against testifying.
“No only did he hurt me but I had to watch him beat my friend and was scared he would do that to me,” a letter by a girl known in court only as Jane Doe 2. “I dream about it almost every night.”
Another girl made a statement, submitted through a victim advocate, stating that “the trauma and pain I endured, and the other victims too, is all too much.” Prosecutors say they were able to obtain video depicting molestation of all three victims, as well as Davis requesting a lewd video of the then-13-year-old girl, Jane Doe 1, orally copulating him, which she sent.
“I was 13 at the time when we first started talking. He would want me to act like I was younger in sexual role plays (like 6),” Doe 1’s statement reads. She later added, “(Davis) would always threaten me if I made a comment about leaving him and going back home.”