MIDVALE, Utah — A woman who had just suffered an epileptic seizure was sexually assaulted by a man who believed she was impaired, according to police.
Miguel Munoz-Lara, 35, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday for investigation of two counts of forcible sexual abuse, burglary, three counts of sexual battery and lewdness.
The alleged assault happened on March 2 about 6:30 a.m. at an apartment complex near 7700 S. Center in Midvale.
A woman, who has epilepsy, was riding the elevator and suffered a seizure when she got to the first floor, according to a police affidavit.
According to surveillance video collected from the apartment complex, “After a few minutes, she begins to sit up and is visibly disoriented,” the affidavit states.
The woman leaves her coat, glasses, and purse on the floor and walks down the hallway and outside the building.
“Still disoriented and unsteady she is seen on the sidewalk and in the parking lot,” according to the affidavit.
Police noted that the woman was not dressed properly for the cold temperature outside and to a person not knowing what had happened, she may have appeared intoxicated, the affidavit states.
About that same time, a truck pulled up and a passenger got out. The man approached the woman and guided her back to the main entrance, according to the affidavit.
“The suspect follows her in and almost immediately comes behind her wrapping his arms around her (and) grabbing her,” the affidavit states.
The man pushed the woman into a mail room and later helped her back to her apartment, where she was sexually assaulted, according to the affidavit. The woman told police she felt the man inappropriately touching her and became “alert seeing a man she doesn’t know. The victim asked what he was doing, then started to yell at him to get out,” according to the affidavit.
Munoz-Lara was later identified by investigators and questioned by Unified police officers. He admitted being with the woman and stated that he thought “she was drunk or on drugs,” the affidavit states.
When police asked why he allegedly grabbed the woman inappropriately if he thought she was impaired, he replied, “I’m a man.”
