2 arrested after downtown Las Vegas busker is groped, punched
Two men were arrested last week after one groped a street performer and punched her at the Fremont Street Experience, according to police documents.
Gary Ray Olson, 42, was arrested after police say he groped the genital area of a woman who was dressed as a cowgirl and posing for photos at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, the Metropolitan Police Department arrest report shows.
Olson was with 42-year-old David Pedrow, who was charged with attempting to conceal a felon after he switched shirts with Olson after the alleged assault and was initially charged with assault, the report states.
Olson was charged with felony sexual assault and a misdemeanor count of battery, court records show.
Two street performers asked the two men if they wanted to take a picture on March 26, the report said. Pedrow posed with the two women while Olson took the picture, and one of the women bent over.
Surveillance footage showed the exchange between the two men and two women, including footage of one man “grabbing” one woman’s genital area, the report states.
The footage showed the woman then “confronts the male suspect and places her hand on the left side of his face and appears to give him a slight tap on his cheek, a slap with no momentum behind it,” according to the report.
The man then punches the woman’s head, and “the force was so great it nearly knocked (the woman) off her feet,” the report states.
The men walked into the D Las Vegas, and the women flagged down a security guard. The casino’s security detained the two men.
Pedrow, who was wearing a shirt matching the shirt of the man seen in the video groping the woman, denied he was the man in the video, according to the report.
Detectives then found security footage from the casino depicting Olson and Pedrow entering a bathroom and emerging wearing each other’s shirts, showing that Olson was the man who assaulted the performer, the report states.
“Pedrow was fully prepared to go to jail on behalf of Olson and unwilling to clarify his role as he intentionally caused confusion of their identity,” it says.
Olson refused to talk to detectives after they told him he was facing charges of sexual assault and battery, the report states.
Both Olson and Pedrow were released from the Clark County Detention Center on bail, with conditions that they obey a 7 p.m. curfew and stay away from the Fremont Street Experience, court records show.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.