An Albuquerque mixed martial arts fighter was arrested Friday on suspicion of raping and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last year, according to court records.
An Albuquerque mixed martial arts fighter was arrested Friday on suspicion of raping and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last year, according to court records.
Stephen Cervantes, who is now 21 or 22, is being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond for allegations that date back to March 2015. He is accused of raping and sexually assaulting the girl several times throughout that month, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
The girl told Bernalillo County Sheriff’s detectives about the assaults in September 2015. She said she and Cervantes had sex about four or five times over the course of March 2015, the complaint states. Once was during a party on Taylor Ridge NW and they had sex several times over the course of a weekend at multiple locations throughout Albuquerque later that month.
Cervantes is a professional bantamweight fighter out of Luttrell’s MMA and Fitness in Albuquerque. He has a 6-1 career record and was scheduled to fight on Friday in Rhode Island.
An arrest warrant charging Cervantes with two counts each of criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact of a minor was approved last month by 2nd Judicial District Judge Charles Brown, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl said that, outside a party around March 20, 2015, Cervantes forced himself onto her when they were alone together in a car.
Deputies talked to two witnesses from that party. One woman said the girl was flirting with Cervantes, but said she didn’t know about any sexual activity between them. Another woman told detectives that the girl and Cervantes were alone together, and the girl admitted to the witness the next day that the girl and Cervantes had sex.
