Transient charged with sex crime after asking to touch toddler

REDWOOD CITY (BCN)-- A man arrested in Redwood City on Monday morning after expressing 
sexual interest in a toddler pleaded not guilty to felony charges of annoying or molesting a child in San Mateo County Superior Court on Tuesday.

David Donald Lewis, 46, was going through garbage cans near the Redwood City Main Library at 1044 Middlefield Road when a man walked by with his 2-year-old daughter around 10:35 a.m. 

Mercury News reports the man is homeless

Lewis allegedly asked if he could touch the child, at which time her father called the police.

Lewis later told officers that he "thought the little girl was cute and wanted to touch her," prosecutors said.

"I was thinking about sex a little bit," Lewis allegedly said. "She's sexy."

District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said this afternoon that he anticipates a competency hearing at some point to determine whether Lewis is mentally fit to stand trial.

Lewis has a prior conviction from 2015 for annoying or molesting a child. He remains in custody on $50,000 bail and returns to court on Jan. 31.

An attorney from San Mateo County's Private Defender Program has not yet been appointed to his case, and no one was available to comment on his behalf.