Posts
Former pro baseball player Lenny Dykstra’s housekeeper accused him of sexual assault, according to records, though prosecutors declined to file charges this month citing a lack of evidence.
According to the rejection memo by Los Angeles County prosecutors, a female housekeeper alleged Dykstra would force her to give him oral sex on Saturdays. However, the 41-year-old woman’s case seemed to flounder because of an apparent lack of evidence that the activity was forced.
The woman told investigators she “needed the job and the money so she went along with the suspect’s requests rather than lose her job,” according to the filing, and “returned to work in the suspect’s home with knowledge that she obtained from the Internet of a claim of sexual assault by another woman.”
According to prosecutors, the woman did not report the alleged assaults until after Dykstra failed to pay her $2,000 he owed her. Investigators found text messages from the woman to Dykstra demanding the money and asking for her job back.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dykstra denied the allegations, saying the woman was trying to extort him to buy drugs.
“If she was assaulted on Saturdays, then I’m a ... ballerina dancer on Sundays,” Dykstra said. “This is a maid. That’s not even worth commenting on, are you kidding me?”
The allegations are only the latest in a series of troubles for Dykstra, the acclaimed former Mets and Phillies outfielder turned self-styled financial guru.
Nicknamed “Nails' by baseball fans for his raucous style of play, Dykstra turned to bankruptcy court to try to save the fancily furnished Sherwood Country Club estate he bought from hockey legend Wayne Gretzky for $18.5 million at the height of the housing boom.
Despite his efforts, and a protracted battle in court, the home was sold in November to the private equity firm Index Investors, one of Dykstra's creditors. The Gretzky mansion, a complex of more than 10,000 square feet with tennis courts, a pool, a guesthouse and striking views of the Sherwood Country Club, was the most valuable piece of Dykstra's estate and the crown jewel of his post-baseball business empire.
As his baseball career wound down, Dykstra gained success as a businessman first with a luxury car wash in Corona that the ballplayer dubbed “the Taj Mahal” of car washes. He then expanded the business to other parts of Southern California and in 2007 sold it to investors.
Dykstra also took his head-first style to Wall Street after teaching himself financial analysis and striking up a friendship with CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, who hired Dykstra to write a stock-picking column for his influential website, TheStreet.com.
With Cramer's seal of approval, Dykstra's prominence soared, and he was profiled in a New Yorker article titled “Nails Never Fails: Baseball's most improbable post-career success story,” and he touted his stock picks on financial news shows.
In 2008, he began publishing the Players Club, a glossy financial advice magazine created exclusively for pro athletes featuring sports luminaries such as Brett Favre and Tiger Woods on its covers.
Dykstra envisioned the Players Club becoming a company that would help players with all aspects of their retirements and dealings off the field, but the venture folded as lawsuits from creditors and unpaid business associates began piling up. Dykstra declared bankruptcy in the summer of 2009.
