2nd Sexual Assault Reported at Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hotel

Miami Beach Police are investigating a report of a second sexual assault on the Fontainebleau hotel property in just a matter of days.

The latest alleged attack at the famed hotel was reported shortly after 5 a.m. Sunday by a woman who said she was the victim of an attempted sexual battery at the hotel at 4441 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach Police spokeswoman Vivian Hernandez said.

Hernandez gave no details of the attack and said no suspect was in custody.

According to a Miami Beach Police report, the victim's boyfriend told officers he left the victim alone in the pool area for about 30 minutes, between 2-2:30 a.m.

When the boyfriend returned, he "found an unknown subject on top of [the victim]," the report said. "[He] stated that the subject's pants were down to his knees and that the subject was grinding on [the victim] in a sexual manner."

The boyfriend told cops he couldn't tell if the man was exposed or if any intercourse had taken place, the report said.

The report said the suspect fled in an unknown direction. Two hotel workers saw a man running from the Fontainebleau wearing only boxer briefs and holding a bundle of clothes, the report said.

According to the report, the victim told police she was intoxicated throughout the night and could only remember being woken up by her boyfriend.

Fontainebleau spokeswoman Mabel De Beunza said hotel security responded to a noise complaint in a hotel guestroom around 4 a.m. Sunday and found a couple engaged in a verbal altercation.

De Beunza said the couple had been arguing near the pool around 2:45 a.m., before the boyfriend left the woman poolside. When the boyfriend returned, he found the woman in an encounter with another man, and the two men got into a physical fight, De Beunza said.

The couple continued to argue in their guestroom and later decided to file a police report, De Beunza said.

De Beunza said the woman was intoxicated and couldn't remember what happened, and hotel security found no attack had occurred.

"We have no evidence to support a sexual assault," De Beunza said. "Our report has no physical evidence."

Hotel guests said they were concerned about the reported incident.

"Makes you feel uncomfortable, makes you feel unsafe," Paschalis Yianni said. "My sister (is) walking around the hotel with my cousin – (this) makes me think maybe I shouldn't leave them by themselves."

"You do have a lot of young kids here, partying for the music fest, drinking and all that, that's my concern as a parent," Colette Graham said. "I mean, I'm a mom, I would be concerned for my daughters coming here."

The report comes just days after 26-year-old Rafael Munguia was arrested on a sexual battery charge for raping a 23-year-old guest of the hotel who was visiting from Beverly Hills, police said.

Munguia, who was visiting from Mexico and was also staying at the Fontainebleau, was drunk and wandered onto the 15th floor where the sleeping woman had left her door open for a friend, police said.

Police say Munguia raped the woman and fled the scene, leaving behind his hat. He was spotted on hotel surveillance video and arrested within hours, police said.  

He later confessed to raping the woman, police said.

Leave Comments