Las Vegas-area roommates accused of binding, sexually assaulting transgender woman

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KLAS) — Two men are accused of binding and sexually assaulting a transgender woman inside a North Las Vegas home, with one of the men alleging pointing a rifle at her and threatening her life.

A Clark County grand jury indicted Daniel Corpus-Perez and Diego Verduzco on charges including first-degree kidnapping resulting in substantial bodily harm and sexual assault resulting in substantial bodily harm, prosecutors said Wednesday. In addition, Verduzco faced an additional charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

On Aug. 23, the alleged victim called police from a Las Vegas-area hospital, saying “she had been kidnapped, raped and burned” at a home in North Las Vegas, police said.

An officer responded to the hospital and spoke to the woman, who said she met Verduzco on a dating app several days before, documents said. Verduzco and the woman then spent the night of Aug. 22 together, drinking at a home and then walking around the Strip.

“At around midnight, they drove back to Diego’s house, they went into Diego’s room and a verbal argument started due to Diego being irritated that his roommates were playing loud music,” documents said. “In the midst of the argument, [the victim] told Diego to shut up and Diego replied by saying that she is lucky he doesn’t kill her.”

The woman then told Diego “that if he touched her she would fight back,” documents said. “Diego then punched her one time in the chin and she was knocked unconscious.”

The victim told police that when she woke up, Diego and another roommate, identified as Corpus-Perez, were “binding her wrists and ankles with wire,” documents said. Verduzco then sexually assaulted her, “grabbed an AR-style rifle and pointed it at [the victim’s] forehead and told her that she better behave or she’s going to die.”

At one point, Verduzco allegedly grabbed the victim’s phone and made “statements such as, ‘Oh, here is your mom’s number, this is good,’ and took multiple pictures.”

Verduzco also allegedly ordered the victim to “sit on the couch in the living room and forced her to watch ‘woke’ YouTube videos, while saying this entire event was [the victim’s] fault and [he] was ‘gaslighting’ her,” documents said.

After several hours, Verduzco drove the alleged victim home, police said. At some point, Verduzco told “her there better not be any marshals knocking on his door later because he would kill [her and her] family if that happened,” documents said.

A family member saw the alleged victim walking near her home and called 911, police said.

The victim had bruises on her face, a cracked tooth and marks on her wrists and ankles, police said.

Metro police records revealed officers responded to Verduzco’s home for a “domestic battery incident with someone… armed with a ‘long gun,’” documents said. Verduzco fired one round in the incident, officers said.

A North Las Vegas SWAT Team took the two men, and several others, into custody on Aug. 24. Corpus-Perez told police he did not help Verduczo and denied any involvement, documents said. Verduczo declined to speak with police.

A North Las Vegas Justice Court judge set bail at $40,000 for Verduzco and $10,000 for Corpus-Perez during hearings last month, records showed.

Both men were expected to appear in district court later this month.

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