Las Vegas man accused of raping woman in complex’s laundry room

A Las Vegas man is accused of raping a woman earlier this year in the laundry room of an apartment complex.

The victim had a sexual assault exam at a hospital two days after the assault, and DNA pointed to 29-year-old Jahmal Blanche, according to a recently released arrest report. Blanche was arrested Aug. 2 on charges of sexual assault and kidnapping.

The victim told Las Vegas police she was walking through an unknown apartment complex on Feb. 3 when she saw Blanche standing in the doorway of the laundry room. She said Blanche said hello and reached out his hand as if to shake hers.

When she went to shake Blanche’s hand, she told police, he pulled her into the laundry room and slammed the door behind her.

The woman told police she could tell that Blanche planned to sexually assault her because she’d been assaulted six times in the past, so she “decided not to fight,” according to the report. She said she was too sore to go to the hospital that day, so she went two days later.

She had a full sexual assault exam done on Feb. 5 at University Medical Center.

Blanche is being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $75,000 bail. His preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 20.

Contact Alexis Egeland at aegeland@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexis_egeland on Twitter.