Police: Las Vegas kidnap suspect threatened violence if victim talked

Antwon Perkins, a former state corrections officer accused in at least two abduction and sexual assault cases involving minors, threatened to kill his most recent victim’s parents if she reported the assault, according to his arrest report.

Perkins, who public employment records show worked at High Desert State Prison from 2015 to 2017, was initially charged with two counts of sexual assault against a child younger than 14 and one count each of battery with intent to commit a crime, lewdness with a child and first-degree kidnapping of a minor in connection with an abduction of a 12-year-old Cadwallader Middle School student on Thursday.

He was first identified by the Metropolitan Police Department as a suspect on Friday morning, after detectives, using surveillance footage in the area, linked him to a black pickup truck involved in the kidnapping.

By Friday afternoon, Perkins’ fiancee had called 911 to report that Perkins was texting her, saying that “Metro was trying to kill him and he was going to commit suicide by shooting himself,” his arrest report stated.

He was located hours later on the 2600 block of Innovation Court, north of Lone Mountain Road, leading to a roughly three-hour standoff with police before he surrendered. He was taken to University Medical Center for treatment of unspecified self-inflicted injuries that night, but was released by Saturday morning, according to a hospital spokesman.

Police say suspect linked to May case

In the days following his arrest, detectives linked him to a May abduction of an 11-year-old girl near Twain Avenue and Swenson Street. In that case, a man lured the girl into his car, drove her to another area and sexually assaulted her before leaving her in an alley near East Twain Avenue and Palos Verdes Street, police said at the time.

Perkins now faces four more counts of first-degree kidnapping with a sex crime enhancement, jail records show. If convicted, the enhancement carries a longer prison sentence.

He appeared briefly Tuesday afternoon in Las Vegas Justice Court, where prosecutors also filed an additional charge of sexual assault with a child younger than 14 based on additional DNA evidence collected from the most recent victim.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Pete Thunell asked Justice of the Peace Ann Zimmerman to raise Perkins’ bail to $750,000, from $500,000.

A defense attorney stated that Perkins, a Rancho High School graduate with “extensive family” in Las Vegas, would not be able to post the lesser amount, and Zimmerman said another judge should address Perkins’ bail at a hearing scheduled this Thursday.

In the latest abduction, police said a man forced the girl, who was walking past a convenience store on the corner of Farm and Cimarron roads, into his pickup truck on Thursday morning. She was on her way to school and was walking the same route she usually takes to school, she later told police.

Once in the vehicle, Perkins forced her “onto the floorboard of the front passenger seat and covered her face” using her jacket, according to his arrest report.

She was held captive for at least three hours and was taken to two separate locations. Perkins allegedly raped her during the second stop, the report stated.

He then dropped off the victim about 11 a.m. near the same convenience store, at which point the girl ran to school, where she reported the kidnapping to her school counselor and assistant principal.

Before letting the girl go, the report stated, Perkins forced her to tell him where she lives, “and said he would kill her parents if she told anybody.” He also used a wet, blue cloth to clean under the girl’s fingernails, the report said.

In an interview with police, the victim said she had never seen Perkins before the abduction.

Police continue to work to determine whether Perkins is a suspect in any other crimes.

“This is a very brazen, violent crime,” Metro sex crimes bureau Lt. David Valenta has said. “From my experience working sex crimes, most people do not start out at this level. So we will absolutely be looking at that.”

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer David Ferrara contributed to this report.