The woman accused of burglarizing the San Francisco hotel room of “Jeopardy” game show host Alex Trebek told police she was there working as a prostitute when she was mistakenly identified as the thief, according to the public defender’s office.
Lucinda Moyers, 56, said she was meeting a john at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis at 55 Fourth St. on July 26 around 3 a.m., San Francisco Public Defender’s Office spokeswoman Tamara Barak Aparton said.
When her date did not answer the hotel room door, Moyers said she was in the hallway when Trebek rushed out his room, Aparton said. Moyers said she ran because she was afraid of getting caught for prostitution.
Trebek, who was in the Bay Area filming the National Geographic World Championship at Google headquarters in Mountain View, said he and his wife Jean were sleeping when he awoke to find a woman inside the room, stealing items, according to San Francisco police.
He sprung out of bed and chased her down the hallway when his Achilles tendon ruptured and he fell “in an ignominious heap to the carpeting,” he told the audience at Google when he arrived on crutches to the taping.
Trebek told police he saw the door close, but did not see the person who was leaving, according to Aparton. Moyers said she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was not found in possession of any stolen property when she was taken into custody, Aparton said.
San Francisco police believe she stole items including purses, wallets and cash. Officers found several of the items near a hotel ice machine, but did not recover the cash, according to police.
Moyers, who was charged with one count of residential burglary and one count of possession of stolen property, pleaded not guilty.
She has two prior convictions for residential burglary in San Francisco in 1990 and 1991, and served time in state prison for both, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Erica Terry Derryck said.
The district attorney will review the case after the preliminary hearing to determine whether it will be prosecuted as a three strikes case. Moyers will be in court Monday to set a date for the preliminary hearing.
She is being held on $625,000 bail and was also ordered to stay at least 150 yards away from Trebek and his wife.
Rachel Purdy, Bay City News
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