Prosecutors want $1M bail for man accused of shooting at officers, kidnapping sex worker

Prosecutors requested $1 million bail for a man accused of shooting at police officers Friday as well as kidnapping and sexually assaulting a sex worker.

Jaime Mendoza, 54, appeared in court Wednesday morning in Las Vegas on the charges related to the sex worker after he surrendered Sunday. He also faces attempted murder of a first responder and resisting a public officer charges in North Las Vegas.

Deputy District Attorney Julia Barker argued that Mendoza was a flight risk whose actions were aggressive and carefully planned.

“He is an absolute danger to the community,” she said.

Abel Yanez, Mendoza’s lawyer, asked for $50,000 bail in the Las Vegas case. He said his client has community and family ties and no criminal history.

Justice of the Peace Nadia Wood did not set bail at the hearing, saying she needed to know if the $500,000 bail set in the North Las Vegas case would stand given that formal charges have not yet been filed in that case.

Yanez said any bail in addition to the bail in the North Las Vegas case would be excessive. Even if Wood followed his request, the total bail would be an amount “only a rich person could afford,” he said.

“I understand the nature and circumstances of this case are serious, but we’re not here to try that case,” he told the court. “He is presumed innocent.”

Barker said Mendoza was the client of a sex worker for about a year, but when he started acting aggressive she didn’t want to see him anymore and he became angry.

As she was leaving another client’s house on Nov. 27 around 1 a.m., Mendoza dragged her into his car at gunpoint, according to Barker. He held up a blade that was about 12 inches long, she said, and tied the sex worker up.

Barker said surveillance video showed Mendoza hiding in the shadows waiting for the victim. A GPS tracker registered to Mendoza had been attached to the victim’s vehicle, she said.

Once he had her in his car, he took her to his house and sexually assaulted her, Barker said.

“He is threatening to kill her son,” the prosecutor said. “He is threatening to kill her. He is threatening to kill her family. He proceeds to do this while he is sexually assaulting her and because she is so afraid for what’s going on, she does not fight back.”

After sexually assaulting her, Mendoza told her he’d kill her and her son if she called police, according to Barker, but eventually released her.

Days later, the victim called police, who took her to University Medical Center, Barker said.

While she was being interviewed by detectives at the hospital, UMC 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.

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