By Amanda Eggert EBS Senior Editor
BIG SKY- Two men have been charged with raping a woman they brought back to their house in Big Sky from a bar in Three Forks in the early morning hours of Aug. 11.
As of Aug. 15, Heriberto Cuevas Bobadilla, 28, and Alex Solis Romero, 34, had not entered a plea to charges of sexual intercourse without consent and were being held in the Gallatin County Detention Center.
According to an affidavit filed Aug. 12 by Dan Mayland, the deputy sheriff investigating the case:
The victim said she visited several bars in Bozeman and consumed alcohol at each. She said she left Music on Main and traveled to Teasers bar in Three Forks. She reported becoming extremely intoxicated and being offered a ride to her vehicle in Bozeman.
The woman got into a vehicle with three or four men and said she has nearly no recollection of traveling in the vehicle. She recalled one of the men holding a card in front or her nose and forcing her to inhale a substance that burned her nose before she passed out again.
The driver of the vehicle reported the woman was very intoxicated and that all of the vehicle’s occupants used methamphetamine in the car and again at the residence of Bobadilla and Romero. He said they also continued to drink at the residence, which is located in the Firelight Chalets.
Bobadilla, Romero and the driver gave conflicting reports of the night’s events.
Bobadilla denies using drugs. Romero initially said he did not use methamphetamine, but later admitted to drug use when confronted with conflicting accounts, saying Bobadilla supplied it.
The woman said the next thing she remembers after being in the car was waking up in a dark room, alarmed and confused, and a man from the bar having sex with her.
The woman said she dozed in and out of consciousness, awaking a short time later to a man putting on a condom at the foot of the bed. She reports he started having sex with her and she realized it was a different man than the first man.
According to her account, she pushed him off of her and told him she was going to call 911 but realized her cell phone was dead. She began searching for a phone or phone charger but could not find one. She fled to a neighboring house and called 911.
At approximately 5:30 a.m., two law enforcement officers with the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office responded. The victim told a responding officer that she was sexually assaulted by two men, and she was transported to the Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital for a sexual assault examination.
Romero contends that he and the woman had consensual intercourse. He admitted she was highly intoxicated and sleeping at times. Romero told the investigating deputy that Bobadilla and the victim also had intercourse.
Bobadilla told the deputy investigating the case that he had no sexual physical contact with the victim other than a kiss on the cheek.
The deputy indicated that Bobadilla’s story changed several times when confronted with information from Romero and the driver. The deputy’s interrogation of Bobadilla, Romero and the driver was conducted with the help of a translator.
Romero told the deputy that both he and Bobadilla fled the residence after the victim left.
Bobadilla told the deputy that he went to bed after the woman left and left the residence only once to go to work. A man who said he was the employer of the men in question told the investigating deputy that neither Bobadilla nor Romero arrived for work that day.
On Aug. 15, the investigating officer said charges have not been filed for drug use, but added that the investigation is ongoing.
