Man faces sexual assault charge tied to 1996 attack outside casino

A man is facing a sexual assault charge in Las Vegas more than 26 years after police say he raped a woman outside a Las Vegas casino, according to court records.

Lawrence Shaw was arrested on a warrant in Texas in March. He was later released on $6,000 bail, according to court records. He has a preliminary hearing set for May 18.

According to the arrest warrant, a woman initially reported that she was raped by Shaw outside of what was then the King 8 Hotel, now the Wild Wild West on Tropicana Avenue, on Jan. 13, 1996. The woman told police she was at the casino with her husband when she decided to leave and take a cab home. When she stepped out of the casino, she told police, Shaw grabbed her and forced her into a semi-truck.

“You are mine, you’ll come live with me, I’ll take care of you, you’ll never have to work,” he told her, according to the report. He then raped her and left the truck, the report stated.

At the time, Shaw initially told police the two had not had sex but then changed his story in a second interview.

“I got a little buzzed and I did something stupid and I don’t want to go to jail for it,” he told police.

But police did not charge Shaw at the time. There was no movement on the case until 2019, according to the warrant, when a DNA lab matched a sperm sample from Shaw to the skirt the woman was wearing at the time of the assault.

In September, police spoke with the woman, who said she wanted to pursue charges against Shaw. The arrest warrant was issued on Sept. 21.

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.