ROUND ROCK, TX — The sudden closure of the PS 35 restaurant — a New York-style pizza place amid elegant architectural elements resembling a subway station — was precipitated following charges related to alleged indecency with a child lodged against one of its investors, Patch has learned.

The 6,000-square-foot eatery at 1500 North Interstate 35 offering hand-tossed pizza, hot and cold sandwiches on freshly baked bread and a selection of "inventive family-style Italian dishes" (as described in a press release) closed after merely six months of operation and an ambitious media blitz announcing its May 30 opening. Housed in the former Westside Alehouse building, the diner closed earlier this month without explanation, leaving patrons scratching their heads as to the abrupt shuttering. A person familiar with the restaurant's workings alerted Patch via email the restaurant's financial backers pulled out of the venture after investor Robert "Kip" Lewis, 51, was arrested following accusations of indecency with a child. According to media reports, Lewis was accused in October of inappropriately touching a 6-year-old girl and taking nude photos of her.

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New Pizza, Italian Food Eatery PS 35 Caters To Round Rock Residents A CBS Austin report revealed that police said the girl told her father and school counselor that Lewis had forced her to put her hand on his genitals. Additionally, the girl claimed Lewis had come to her home to watch her shower, the report indicated. The girl is said to have logged the times Lewis allegedly came to watch her shower — Oct. 20 and Nov. 9 of last year — in her personal journal, according to the CBS Austin report.



A KVUE report provided additional details found in the arrest affidavit. The accuser told a forensic interviewer that Lewis had entered her room one night as she slept before trying to make her touch herself. The victim also told police she found photos of herself sleeping nude on Lewis' cell phone before deleting them, according to the report.

The news station reported the child's mother called the Austin Police Department Oct. 2, telling officers Lewis had allegedly forced the young victim to perform sex acts on him. The relationship between Lewis and the girl's mother is unclear.

David Minton and Perry Minton, Lewis' attorneys, told KVUE the allegations in the affidavit are not the girl's statements while predicting Lewis ultimately would be exonerated: "The allegations are 100 percent false — and anyone who knows Kip knows this," the statement read. "The tragedy here is this sweet little girl who has been made a pawn in a nasty divorce. These charges will be dismissed by the state, or a jury will find Kip not guilty. Period." Lewis was charged with indecency with a child by contact, with a bond set at $150,000.

