Jury convicts Oregon man of rape in Bloomington hotel assault
4/26/2019
A Hennepin County Jury found an Oregon man guilty of rape and physical assault of a woman in a Bloomington hotel, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.
The jury found Jimmy Hortiz, 42, of The Dalles, Or., guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree assault after a full day of deliberation. On the first count, the jury also specifically agreed that he used force and coercion on the victim.
Sentencing was set for May 29 after a pre-sentence investigation and a psycho-sexual examination are completed.
According to the criminal complaint and testimony in the two week trial, the victim said that on the night of Nov. 29, she was at the bar at the Double Tree Hotel on Normandale Boulevard with friends and had enough drinks to become intoxicated and suffer memory lapses.
She next remembered gasping awake in a hotel room with an older white man she did not know sexually assaulting her. The victim said she did not consent to sex and resisted, which angered the man, who turned out to be Hortiz. He choked her, punched her, grabbed her by the hair and shoved her head into a dresser as she fought back.
The next thing she remembered was running down the hallway and having a panic attack in the hotel lobby. She was wearing an oversized men’s T-shirt, two different socks and bloodstained underwear. She did not know whose clothing it was. At the hospital, the victim was found to have a black eye, numerous bruises on her hands, a broken fingernail, marks around her neck and genital injuries.
A witness reported hearing a woman crying and begging to be let out of fourth floor room early on Nov. 30. Police found that Hortiz, in town on a business trip, had checked into that room. When they searched it, they found bloodstained sheets, a broken red fingernail on the floor that matched the victim’s and, hidden in the drop ceiling, the woman’s torn bra, her dress and a pair of mismatched socks matching the ones the victim was wearing.
Hortiz told police that he had allowed the woman to come to his room to use the bathroom, but when she emerged, she was wearing only a towel. She began kissing him but he said no and she became angry. He told police that she threw a hotel phone at him and a lamp and the lamp flew back into her face, causing her injuries. However, a Bloomington detective said the lamps and phone appeared to be undisturbed.
Hortiz also told police that he did not have sex with her, but his DNA was found in her vaginal area.
Hortiz Criminal Complaint (PDF)