'You know you like this': Court docs reveal horrid details in rape of Silver Spring woman
SILVER SPRING, Md. (ABC7) — An intoxicated man stalked, tackled, strangled, punched and raped a woman as she entered her apartment building carrying a basket full of laundry, Montgomery County authorities allege.
The suspect has been identified as Kevin Mendoza, a 26-year-old undocumented immigrant. Mendoza is currently facing a trio of felony charges: first-degree rape, attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
Montgomery County Police issued a community alert last Monday after officers arrested Mendoza. However, newly obtained court documents further reveal just how horrid the stranger-on-stranger rape was.
WHAT HAPPENED
It was a few minutes before midnight on Friday, August 16. The female victim had just finished a long work shift. She pulled into her apartment complex parking lot located along the 8500 block of 16th Street, just northwest of downtown Silver Spring.
MORE: ICE: Undocumented immigrant strangles, rapes woman at Silver Spring apartment building
The victim parked her car, read a text message, grabbed groceries and dry cleaning from the trunk of her car and entered the apartment she shared with a few roommates. The victim changed out of her work dress, put on pajamas and flip-flops and returned to her car to retrieve a laundry basket full of clothing.
As the victim walked back to the apartment building, she noticed a Hispanic male following her and quickly gaining ground. As the two neared a locked side door, the man stopped and stood still in silence. The victim recalled the man was wearing charcoal-colored socks, but no shoes. He also smelled of alcohol.
As the victim unlocked the side door with her key and crossed the threshold, the man grabbed her from behind, tossed her to the floor and strangled her. The victim screamed out loud for her roommates’ help, but to no avail. She then recalled the man pull her pants down to her ankles, lower her shirt and force sex.
“You know you like this,” the man told the victim while kissing her on the lips.
In an act of desperation, the victim offered the man money — and even her car — in hopes that would distract him. It did not work. After seven long, agonizing minutes, the man pulled up his pants, put on his belt and walked out the same side door he had entered.
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The victim rushed to her apartment, locked the door and immediately called 911. Medics transported her to Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville with a number of injuries sustained during the attack.
Medical staff performed a sexual assault forensic exam on the victim in an effort to collect DNA evidence and document physical wounds to assist law enforcement with future criminal prosecution.
Physicians would later tell investigators that the victim suffered bruising on her neck, trouble swallowing and loss of memory due to the strangulation, which stopped blood and airflow to her brain for an unspecified period of time.
“Doctors advised that the severity of the strangulation could have easily resulted in the victim’s death,” police wrote in court documents.
On Saturday, August 17 — one day after the rape — the suspect returned to the apartment building and told security guards he lived in a unit on the fifth floor. The guards noticed the man looked a lot like the suspect. Sensing their suspiciousness, the suspect ran away.
Police returned to the apartment building and checked the leasing office file for Unit 520. That produced Kevin Mendoza’s name. Investigators “ran” Mendoza in the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration database and obtained a recent photo.
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS CAPTURE INCIDENT
Meanwhile, detectives reviewed the apartment building’s surveillance system and were shocked to see that two cameras — one positioned outside the side door and one inside the hallway — captured the entire rape in brutal clarity.
The victim appeared in frame carrying that laundry basket. She unlocked the door with her key card and Mendoza followed her inside. Switching to camera two, Mendoza is seen grabbing the victim by the neck and tossing her to the ground. Mendoza — who is 6-feet tall and 185-pounds — reportedly placed both hands around the victim's neck and applied all of his body weight in an effort to strangle her.
"Detectives can see Victim A's arms and legs flailing trying to escape," police wrote in charging documents, further noting that Mendoza repeatedly punched the victim in the head with a closed fist. "Victim A stops struggling at this point and the unknown male tries to reposition Victim A in a corner by the wall and a vending machine."
The surveillance clip continues with Mendoza removing the victim’s pants and underwear and raping her, all the while keeping a firm grip on her neck, court documents state.
SUSPECT ARRESTED
Police ultimately took the 26-year-old into custody at 10:30 a.m. last Monday, three days after the rape occurred. Upon reading him his rights in Spanish, Mendoza reportedly promised to confess to the heinous crime so long as he could call his family first. Court documents do not indicate if Mendoza kept his end of the bargain.
Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirm Mendoza is a Honduran national living in the U.S. illegally. ICE has filed an immigration detainer with Montgomery County in light of the rape case. ICE has not said how Mendoza entered the country.
Citing the severity of the allegations at hand, Montgomery County District Court Judge Karen Ferretti ordered Mendoza held without bond. He remains in Montgomery County custody facing one life term in prison, plus an additional 55 years.
RELATED: ICE blasts Montgomery Co. for releasing accused felon despite immigration detainer
According to court documents, Mendoza is married and has two children. He most recently worked as a "carpentry helper" and before that was employed by a restaurant for five years.
Last week, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office filed a formal request for Mendoza to be transported to the Dennis Avenue Health Center in Silver Spring for a blood draw. That testing, which is scheduled to take place before the end of the month, will determine if the accused rapist has HIV, AIDS, Syphilis, Hepatitis B and/or Hepatitis C.
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