Las Vegas boy sexually assaulted on way to school, man arrested

Las Vegas police arrested a 42-year-old man Thursday in connection with a sexual assault of a student in northeast Las Vegas.

In a Thursday afternoon briefing, police said a 14-year-old boy was sexually assaulted while walking to school around 6:20 a.m. earlier in the day. The assault occurred in the 4200 block of east Tonopah Avenue, near north Lamb Boulevard and east Lake Mead Boulevard.

Willie Collins, 42, faces charges of battery to commit sexual assault, kidnapping, and two counts of sexual assault. Collins is a registered sex offender for open and gross lewdness. He was on house arrest out of North Las Vegas for burglary with a deadly weapon from November, according to Metropolitan Police Department Sexual Assault Lt. Jason Johansson.

The open and gross lewdness charges stemmed from March 2017, when Collins pleaded guilty to that charge and one count of child abuse, court records show.

Police said the boy was approached by Collins who suggested that he had a firearm and that “he would kill the victim if he did not comply with his request,” Johansson said.

Collins directed the boy into a dumpster enclosure in an alley on the north side of Tonopah where he allegedly sexually assaulted the boy, Johansson said. During the assault, the lieutenant said, the victim and Collins got into a fight and the victim was able to get away.

Collins fled the scene. Police reviewed video in the area and saw man with his pants off and wearing a Clark County Detention Center ankle monitor, according to the lieutenant. Authorities tracked Collins’ ankle bracelet to the area at the time of the sexual assault.

“We used every last resource on this investigation,” Johansson said.

Investigators confirmed Collins was the suspect through further investigation and took him into custody at his residence around at around 12:30 p.m.

Johansson said Collins’ residence was about a quarter mile from where the assault took place. He did not have a firearm during the assault and was not found with one when he was arrested, Johansson said.

Police were investigating whether Collins was tied to any other sexual assaults.

“In this case I would say the victim sustained quite a bit of injuries in regard to not only physical but obviously emotional injuries that come from a traumatic experience like this,” Johansson said.

Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @davidwilson_RJ on Twitter.