Man accused of sexual assault, kidnapping Las Vegas woman
A woman told police she was sexually assaulted and threatened with a hammer and handgun before she was held captive in an apartment in June, court documents show.
Court documents accuse Jacob Esau Mejia, 22, of meeting up with and raping a woman he had known for five years but had never met prior to the day of the assault.
Prosecutors charged Mejia last week with two counts of sexual assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon and battery by strangulation to commit sexual assault, court records show.
The woman picked him up about 11 p.m. June 15 at a 7-Eleven near East Bonanza and North Pecos roads, and they drove to a nearby apartment with an unknown address, according to a Metropolitan Police Department warrant.
They arrived at an apartment with broken air conditioning and light coming in only from the outside.
She told police investigators that she grew uncomfortable and tried to leave, but Mejia threatened her with a hammer and a handgun, the warrant for Mejia’s arrest indicates. She said he then sexually assaulted her, smashing her phone in the process, the document said.
After the assault, a friend of Mejia’s knocked on the door and asked Mejia “why he was doing this in his place,” the warrant said.
The woman then wasn’t allowed to leave the apartment for about three hours, the warrant said. She asked the friend to help her, but the friend was afraid of getting police involved and went about his day, according to the warrant. After an hour or so of captivity, Mejia locked the door and put a chair in front of it.
“She said every time she would get up the suspect would tell her to sit down,” the warrant said.
Mejia eventually let her go the morning of June 16 on the condition she drive him home, the warrant shows. She dropped him off, and the friend, who also rode in her vehicle, gave her information on Mejia as she drove the friend back to his place.
The next day she told her mother, who called police.
Police used the woman’s account and identifying information to pinpoint Mejia as a suspect. Officers arrested him and booked him into Clark County Detention Center on June 22, jail records show.
Mejia was held in the jail Saturday evening without bail. A preliminary hearing is set for July 27.
Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.
