Rape suspect denied bond; details about case revealed in first court appearance

Hunter Sáenz
·1 min read

New details have been revealed after a rape suspect was denied bond Monday for a case out of east Charlotte.

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz was the only reporter in the courtroom when Julio Gomez-Avila faced a judge for the first time.

PREVIOUS STORIES:

Judge Cecilia Oseguera said Gomez-Avila will stay in the Mecklenburg County jail with no bond because he poses a danger to the public.

New details have been revealed after a rape suspect was denied bond Monday for a case out of east Charlotte. Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz was the only reporter in the courtroom when Julio Gomez-Avila faced a judge for the first time.
New details have been revealed after a rape suspect was denied bond Monday for a case out of east Charlotte. Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz was the only reporter in the courtroom when Julio Gomez-Avila faced a judge for the first time.

On Friday, Chopper 9 Skyzoom was overhead Glenville Avenue in east Charlotte. That’s where SWAT officers helped get Gomez-Avila out of a home they say he was barricaded in.

Police said Gomez-Avila allegedly raped a woman in January at the Brookridge apartment complex off East W.T. Harris Boulevard.

In court Monday, prosecutors said a 23-year-old woman woke up and went downstairs to cook breakfast for her two kids when she saw a man in a ski mask standing inside her back door holding a gun.

Police shared video of him that was captured by a neighbor’s doorbell camera.

Prosecutors said the suspect ordered the victim upstairs to rob her. Then he put her in a room and raped her, they said.

Afterward, prosecutors said Gomez-Avila took the victim downstairs to quiet her young child, who was screaming. They said when the suspect was putting his clothes back on, the victim grabbed her child and ran to a neighbor’s house for help.

Prosecutors said the victim recognized Gomez-Avila’s voice and a mole on his eyelid as the boyfriend of a woman who used to live at that apartment. The victim believed he may have still had a key to get in.

Gomez-Avila is now charged with several felonies, including first-degree rape.

(WATCH BELOW: SWAT arrests rape suspect after short barricade at northeast Charlotte home)