El Paso Man Wanted on Rape, Drug Charges from Inn of the Mountain Gods Case

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — An El Paso, Texas man is wanted on a nationwide warrant charging him with second-degree criminal sexual penetration after he allegedly drugged and raped a woman at the Inn of the Mountain Gods on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

Danny Rivera, 24, is wanted on the warrant, which was signed Aug. 12. He is charged with second-degree criminal sexual penetration resulting in personal injury and distribution of flunitrazepam, a benzodiazepine commonly associated with date rape.

New Mexico State Police Investigator Edward Garcia wrote in court documents that he enlisted the help of the FBI to identify Rivera from a selfie the victim allegedly took with him before the June 7 incident. Rivera was subsequently identified by the people he was sharing a hotel room with, his cousin and aunt, Garcia wrote.

The allegations

According to the woman's account detailed in court documents, she and a male friend went to the Inn of the Mountain Gods together, but she went to "The Game Room" alone, where she began talking to a man standing next to a casino machine watching another man play. She told him her 65-year-old boyfriend had ditched her, Garcia wrote.

The two went from the gaming room to a bar, and she took a selfie with the man while walking in a hallway at 10:03 p.m. — her last memory before waking up in the hospital attached to an IV line, Garcia wrote.

Her friend told investigators he had called her phone and a man with a Spanish accent answered, telling him to come get her and stating, in vulgar terms, that she had been sexually assaulted, Garcia wrote. When the friend called again later, a nurse answered. He went to the hospital and stayed with the woman until she was released.

Security footage

Garcia obtained security footage from the hotel and casino. Through the footage, he tracked the woman's movement from the gaming room to the bar with a man, then to an elevator, where she was having difficulty walking, Garcia wrote.

The footage showed her getting off the elevator on the seventh floor and going into a room with the man at 10:06 p.m. At 11:01 p.m., the man was seen carrying and dragging her out of the room, Garcia wrote.

The footage then showed her getting into the elevator with the man, who dragged her down part of a fourth-floor hallway before dropping her and walking away. A maid found her and radioed for help, Garcia wrote.

The evidence

A sexual assault examination nurse wrote in her report that the woman had vaginal bruising. At the hospital, a urine sample tested positive for benzodiazepine, a painkiller and sedative the woman said she did not take, Garcia wrote.

The woman was also covered in bruises on her biceps, left knee, both inner thighs and her left outer thigh, Garcia wrote.

A DNA report found the woman's dress tested positive for male DNA, according to court documents.

Rivera went to the El Paso Police Department on July 13 for an interview, where he declined to give a statement and asked for an attorney.

Anyone with information on Rivera's whereabouts is asked to contact New Mexico State Police, this is an ongoing investigation with an active nationwide warrant issued. 

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