Arrest made in S. Tahoe assault case

A maintenance worker at a South Lake Tahoe hotel was arrested less than 24 hours after a woman reported being physically and sexually assaulted. Manuel Ramos-Munoz, 30, of South Lake Tahoe on June 11 at 10pm turned himself into police officers.

Manuel Ramos-Munoz

He was booked into jail on felony charges of kidnapping for the purpose of committing a sexual assault, assault with the intent to commit rape, forcible oral copulation, penetration by foreign object, assault with a deadly weapon, uttering terrorist threats, and battery causing great bodily injury.

The South Lake Tahoe woman who is in her 20s who was assaulted is recovering from her injuries.

Ramos-Munoz has been a maintenance worker and resident at the Big Pines Mountain House of Tahoe for four years. This is the same motel from which the victim had been abducted at knifepoint about 2am Thursday while socializing with friends.

Detectives contacted Ramos-Munoz later Thursday. Officers said he agreed to voluntarily come to the police department for questioning. Officers said Munoz confessed to forcing the victim away from the motel to a secluded area where he cut her clothes off with his knife, to sexually assaulting her, and to several other relevant details about which only a suspect would be aware.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report