Las Vegas tennis coach accused of raping woman at gunpoint

A Las Vegas Valley tennis coach and former ride-share driver was arrested this month after police said he drove a woman away from a south valley bar and raped her at gunpoint.

Prosecutors charged Jean Cyril, 38, with assault and sexual assault, both with a deadly weapon, after he allegedly raped a woman in the early hours of Aug. 11, according to Cyril’s arrest report. The woman told police that while she was in Cyril’s car, he pulled over for them to use the bathroom, and then pointed a gun at her forehead and raped her.

Cyril told police he met the woman outside Blue Martini Lounge, 6593 Las Vegas Blvd. South, the report said. He claimed the woman, who appeared “heavily intoxicated,” spoke with him for “a long time” before asking for a ride.

Surveillance footage showed the woman sitting outside near the bar when a dark-colored Dodge Journey with Uber and Lyft stickers parked near her. A man got out and spoke to the woman briefly before she got into the Dodge, which drove away about 3:30 a.m., the report said.

“It was thought that the suspect may have posed as an Uber or Lyft driver being that this appeared to be a location where patrons hailed Ubers and Lyfts as the Blue Martini closed to the public,” the report said.

Police tracked the license plate from the car in the video to Cyril. He told detectives he was a former Lyft driver, but he claimed his car did not have an Uber of Lyft emblem on it.

The woman said she did not remember why she got into the man’s car, and the last time she used the Uber app was in June. Detectives determined she entered her boyfriend’s address into her cellphone’s GPS early Aug. 11.

She told police she was visiting Las Vegas and didn’t recognize the path the man drove after leaving the bar. She said he pulled off the highway to use the restroom “in a poorly lit area” before raping her, the report said.

The woman said in order to “appease” the man, she told him she would “get her things and go home with him.” She said that after he drove her to the apartment she ran inside, locked the door and called police.

Video surveillance at the complex showed the woman exiting a Dodge van and walking inside “as the suspect trails her,” the report said.

Cyril told police his encounter with the woman was consensual. He said he couldn’t recall her name, but that he gave her his “Life Time Fitness” business card, “where he is a tennis coach,” the report said.

Life Time Athletic has locations in Henderson and Summerlin, offering tennis lessons for adults and children at its Green Valley location, according to the company’s website. The gym did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday.

Cyril claimed the woman told him she would “go stay with him,” but he told police he couldn’t bring her to his Las Vegas home “because his wife who is eight months pregnant is at home and would not condone of it,” the report said.

He was arrested Aug. 13 and booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

“Ultimately Cyril’s behaviour was predatory as he observed an opportunity to step and gain compliance from an overly intoxicated female who was alone,” the report said.

Cyril was listed in detention center online records Friday night, but court records show he was not in custody as of Monday after posting $25,000 bail. He is not allowed to drive for Uber or Lyft as a condition of his bail.

His 7 p.m curfew was lifted Monday in order for Cyril to “go to hospital with wife,” online court records show.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.