Police say sexual assault suspect was kidnapped, beaten

Three Las Vegas residents are accused of seeking vigilante justice against a man suspected of sexually assaulting a child.

Las Vegas police allege that Matthew Wingco, 20, Emmanuel Saenz-De-Tejada, 20, and Samantha Cruz, 19, kidnapped and beat Jiann Macabasco, 19, of Las Vegas after the man was accused of sexually assaulting a girl Wingco knows.

Police said Macabasco was taken to Olympia Hills Park in southwest Las Vegas, stripped, then pummeled on the chilly evening of Jan. 28.

Wingco’s attorney, Warren Geller, said his client was involved in an altercation with Macabasco but “did not participate in transporting” him to the scene of the altercation.

“His reaction was more than reasonable considering the circumstances,” Geller said Thursday.

The attorney said Macabasco is suspected of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Attorneys for Saenz-De-Tejada, Cruz and Macabasco did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

Police said the complex series of events that led to the beating began Jan. 26. A girl told police that Macabasco sexually assaulted her that morning at Olympia Hills Park.

Macabasco is now charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. His arrest report said police have received complaints from two others alleging sexual assault.

But before the criminal charges were filed against Macabasco, he already was being accused of being a rapist on social media, police said.

Arrest reports for Wingco and Cruz state that on Jan. 28 Macabasco was reported missing in Las Vegas by a family member. He was last seen with Cruz, who was at one point Macabasco’s girlfriend, police said.

An extensive investigation led to a camera mounted on the dashboard of Cruz’s Toyota Camry. According to police, the video footage and audio recovered from the camera showed Cruz driving Macabasco to Olympia Hills Park, where the man was severely beaten by three people, on Jan. 28.

When a potential witness walking a dog in the park approached, according to police, Cruz ordered Macabasco back into her vehicle and “instructed the group that Jiann Macabasco was to be beaten again.” Macabasco then was driven to a remote desert area at West Quarter Horse Lane and West Cactus Avenue, where he was attacked a second time.

“After the second beating Jiann Macabasco was heard crying while he explained the reason he was crawling on his hands and knees during the beating was because he didn’t deserve to fight back,” police said of the recording.

The camera subsequently recorded Cruz stating during a phone call that “she had made Cruz strip to only his boxers and socks, dumped cold water on him and then drove him to the mountains near Red Rock and made him walk home without a cell phone,” police said. “She was also heard during a phone conversation that she left Jiann Macabasco up in the mountains where she hoped he would be eaten by wolves.”

However, Macabasco ultimately was found alive at Cruz’s house. A police report states that he believed he had suffered broken ribs and a broken wrist. A booking mug shot from his sexual assault arrest on Jan. 31 shows him with a black eye.

Macabasco is now charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of lewdness with a child age 14 or 15. Wingco and Cruz each are charged with conspiracy, first-degree kidnapping and battery resulting in substantial bodily harm.

Saenz-De-Tejada was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping, but a criminal complaint in his case had not been filed in Las Vegas Justice Court as of Thursday morning.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.