Police release details of man’s alleged lewdness with a minor
A man suspected in a lewdness case involving a child younger than 14 was arrested after he met with detectives May 27, police said.
On May 19, the Metropolitan Police Department said Alejandro Soria-Bautista, 39, entered the El Super supermarket near North Lamb and East Charleston boulevards.
A child was shopping with her mother in the store and left her mother to get chips in a nearby aisle, according to a police report. Surveillance video shows a man following the girl around the store, approaching her in the chip aisle, and “bending over or bending down” and “looking around nervously,” police said.
Hours after, during a bath at home, the child began crying and told her mother a man had reached into her clothes earlier in the day, the arrest report said. The girl told police during a May 21 interview that a man had reached into her pants and underwear when she was in the store separated from her mother.
The day after, a woman who said she was Soria-Bautista’s former co-worker called police and said he worked at a Strip hotel restaurant.
On May 27, police went to the restaurant to contact Soria-Bautista, but were told he had called in sick. Later that day, a woman called police on Soria-Bautista’s behalf, saying she could translate for him because he speaks only Spanish, the report said.
Shortly afterward, she and Soria-Bautista showed up at the interviewing officer’s office, the report said. Soria-Bautista was read his Miranda rights and interviewed, the report said. He gave a DNA sample, which police impounded as evidence.
“Throughout the interview, Alejandro stated numerous times that he didn’t remember touching anyone or doing anything,” the arrest report said.
When police showed Soria-Bautista photos from El Super surveillance, he said it was him. When police told him that a girl alleged that he had inappropriately touched her, Soria-Bautista said he wanted a lawyer.
Soria-Bautista was arrested May 27 and booked into Clark County Detention Center on one charge of lewdness with a child younger than 14. He is to appear in court June 30 for a preliminary hearing.
Contact Christian Bertolaccini at cbertolaccini@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0381. Find @bertolaccinic on Twitter.