Man accused of shooting at police, assaulting sex worker faces $1M in bail

A judge’s ruling Tuesday means total bail will be set at $1 million for a man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a sex worker, then shooting at police.

Jaime Mendoza, 54, has “a limited criminal history,” with no felony or misdemeanor convictions, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Nadia Wood said. His attorney, Abel Yanez, said he owns his home and has ties to the community and his family.

But prosecutors have cast him as a flight risk who carefully planned an elaborate and violent crime.

“These are incredibly concerning allegations,” said Wood, before setting bail at $500,000 with high-level electronic monitoring at a Tuesday hearing. When combined with $500,000 bail in a related North Las Vegas case, his bail totals $1 million, an amount that prosecutors previously requested.

Yanez had asked for $50,000 bail but argued that any bail in addition to the amount set in the other case would be excessive.

Wood said she understood that her ruling could keep Mendoza in jail.

“This is a detention order,” Wood said of the bail she set. But when Yanez asked if she intended to keep his client in custody, she replied: “No, I’m acknowledging it could act as a detention order.”

In Las Vegas, Mendoza faces counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and aggravated stalking. In North Las Vegas, he faces charges of attempted murder of a first responder and resisting a public officer with use of a firearm.

The two cases could soon be combined. Deputy District Attorney Julia Barker said prosecutors have provided the defendant with a notice that the cases are going to a grand jury, where they could be consolidated if jurors indict Mendoza.

Mendoza’s pretrial assessment rated him a low risk, Wood said, but came with a recommendation that his risk level be elevated from low to high.

“I don’t think I’ve actually ever seen that before,” she said.

Yanez has said his client is “presumed innocent.”

Barker previously said that around 11 a.m. on Nov. 27 Mendoza dragged a sex worker into his car at gunpoint, held a blade up to her and bound her.

Then, she said, Mendoza took the woman to his house and sexually assaulted her. He also threatened to kill the sex worker and her family, the prosecutor alleged.

Wood indicated that video footage may document some of the allegations. “It sounds like the beginning portion (of) the alleged kidnapping was actually captured on Ring doorbell,” she said during the bail hearing.

While the victim was being interviewed by detectives at University Medical Center days later, hospital security discovered that her car had been broken into and witnesses described “a person matching Mr. Mendoza’s description fleeing,” according to Barker.

Officers tried to stop Mendoza, who was driving a car, she said, but he crashed it at Jerry’s Nugget and took off on foot.

He then shot at officer Marcos Gomez, who fired back and hit him in his left hip, police have said.

The judge heard initial bail arguments from Yanez and Barker last week but didn’t make a decision on what the amount would be because she wanted to see if charges would be filed in the North Las Vegas case.

Yanez said Tuesday that the North Las Vegas charges have been filed.

The shooting occurred on Nov. 29. Mendoza was arrested two days later.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.