When the woman checked the peephole of her Minnesota hotel room, she saw an employee standing on the other side of the door, she later told investigators.
She opened the door for him, propping it ajar with a stroller, according to a probable cause statement.
Then, she sat down and started to do some homework.
The Days Inn employee, later identified as Nolasco Lopez Ramirez, made a bed in the room and told the woman that there had been some complaints about loud noises.
The woman, whose 9-month-old child was in the room, told police that the man drew closer to her. Then, she said, she asked Lopez Ramirez to get back.
According to the woman’s account, she went into the bathroom to grab some dirty towels to hand off, “in order to get the man to leave,” the complaint states. But the man followed her into the bathroom, closed the door, and kissed her on the cheek, she told police.
“Stop, this is not cool,” the woman said, pushing him away.
The man kept going though, authorities say.
He now stands accused of raping her in the bathroom of her room at a Days Inn in St. Paul.
“I know you want it,” he allegedly told her, according to the complaint. “Stop lying. That’s the only reason you opened the door.”
Lopez Ramirez, 25, has been charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree in connection to the Saturday incident and was expected to appear in court this week, records indicate.
“These allegations are deeply troubling as the safety of hotel guests and staff is of the utmost importance,” the Days Inn hotel chain said in a statement, which directed questions to local authorities. “While we do not own or operate this hotel, we’re unable to comment further at this time due to the matter being under investigation.”
There are more than 1,000 Days Inn hotels around the world, according to information posted on Wyndham Hotel Group’s website, which notes that the properties are independently owned and operated.
The woman cried out during the encounter and screamed that Lopez Ramirez was raping her. After she threatened to scream louder, Lopez Ramirez took out $5, according to the complaint, and told her: “This will take care of it.”
Once he left, the woman spotted three other hotel employees outside her door and shouted that Lopez Ramirez had raped her.
An employee at the hotel told police that Lopez Ramirez instructed them not to clear the victim’s room, saying he would take care of it. Another employee told police that Lopez Ramirez was “acting really touchy and weird lately,” the complaint states.
It continued: “He had asked her if she was going to strip for him for his birthday.”
Lopez Ramirez told police that he couldn’t remember meeting the woman, nor could he remember having sex with anyone by her name.
In his interview with investigators, he said that he was “in charge of housekeeping” at the Days Inn.
“When told that he had sex with a woman who did not want to have sex with him, Lopez Ramirez said he didn’t know if he had sex with her or not, but he didn’t think he would do that,” the complaint states.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Sarah Larimer
