North Las Vegas police arrest man in 2004 sexual assault

North Las Vegas police arrested a man Wednesday in a nearly 16-year-old sexual assault cold case, according to an arrest report.

Carlos Brambila, 44, was arrested on a sexual assault charge after a DNA test linked him to a woman who woke up naked in an abandoned house after she was sexually assaulted on Dec. 10, 2004.

The woman told police that she went to a Dotty’s casino on North Lamb Boulevard, where two men approached her and gave her a mixed drink. She said she thought the drink was reacting poorly with the medication she was taking for anxiety and bipolar disorders, the report said.

“The next thing she remembered, she woke up in an abandoned house, naked, with drug paraphernalia littered around the house,” the report said. “She said she was alone and wandered out of the house to get help, but … after walking around, she realized an ex-boyfriend of hers lived several streets away from the house she woke up in, so she walked to his house to call for help.”

She got a sexual assault examination at University Medical Center in December 2004. On March 12, 2019, DNA from the exam matched with Brambila, whose DNA already was in the system, the report said.

The Clark County Detention Center told police on Nov. 7 that Brambila was in custody on unrelated warrants. Police interviewed him and when asked about the assault, he told them, “I don’t do that kind of stuff,” the report said.

Officers took a cheek swab from Brambila and, on Dec. 19, “the full DNA sperm fraction profile returned as belonging to Carlos Brambila,” the report said.

Court records show a warrant was issued for Brambila’s arrest on Feb. 20, and jail records show he was arrested on Aug. 19.

He was booked into the detention center and is expected in court Sept. 24.

Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.