Sex offender charged with serial sexual abuse of Las Vegas girl

A convicted sex offender has been charged with sexually abusing a child in Las Vegas in a series of incidents dating to 2012, Las Vegas police said.

Jermiah Dewight Thornburg, 40, is facing charges of sex assault of a child under 14 and lewdness involving a child.

A Las Vegas police arrest report for Thornburg indicates that police were contacted in 2017 by a person who said a young woman alleged she was a victim of sexual abuse. Police were able to interview the female in 2018, and she told them that from 2012 to 2014 — when she was a child — she was repeatedly subjected to sexual assaults by Thornburg in Las Vegas.

The woman told officers that Thornburg raped her during one encounter.

Las Vegas Justice Court records indicate a warrant for Thornburg’s arrest in the case was issued in March 2019. He was booked on the sex assault and lewdness charges at the Clark County Detention Center a week ago.

Clark County District Court records show Thornburg was charged with sex assault and first-degree kidnapping in 2006 after a woman said he kidnapped her at gunpoint in Las Vegas and then raped her in a parking lot. Thornburg eventually pleaded guilty to a felony count of attempted sex assault as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced to 48 to 120 months in a Nevada prison.

After his release, the Nevada Sex Offender Registry indicated Wednesday, Thornburg was deemed an “absconder” who left the state for Mississippi without permission.

A preliminary hearing on Thornburg’s new case is scheduled for May 5 in Justice Court.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.