Man gets 10 to life in Strip sex attack
A man convicted of sexually assaulting a woman inside a Las Vegas Strip casino bathroom was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years to life in prison.
Oreste Perez was convicted of assaulting the 21-year-old, who was under the influence of alcohol, in March 2013 at the Flamingo. He followed her through the casino as she tried to find an elevator to her hotel room, prosecutors said.
Surveillance video showed Perez grabbing the woman’s hand as she tried to push him away.
Prosecutors said Perez then pulled the woman, who was visiting from Canada, into a men’s restroom, where he pressed her face against a stall and sexually assaulted her. He was arrested two weeks later at his Las Vegas home.
At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, the victim said she has felt “disgusting” and “lonely” since the attack.
“The normal life I used to have isn’t the same anymore,” she said. “All I want is justice for what happened. I don’t want any other woman to feel how I feel.”
The Review-Journal does not identify victims of sexual assault.
A Clark County jury found Perez guilty in June on charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, battery with the intent to commit sexual assault and coercion. The 22-year-old said both he and the victim were drunk at the time and the encounter was consensual.
“I’m innocent of all this,” Perez said through an interpreter Wednesday. “They have no DNA, no sperm. They have nothing. … She was the one who took advantage of me.”
Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.
