Guilty Plea in Chelsea Nightclub Sex Assault

Same club made headlines in December after woman disappeared

A Queens man will spend 3 1/2 years in jail after pleading guilty to attempted kidnapping and attempted rape of a woman who'd passed out from drinking at a Chelsea nightclub.
    
Luis Zambrano entered the plea in Manhattan Criminal Court today.

The victim told cops that she drank so much she passed out at the Marquee club on the night of March 22 and the next thing she knew, 38-year-old Zambrano was having sex with her.

Surveillance footage from the club backs up the victim's account. Video captures her passed out on the couch as Zambrano kisses her and touches her crotch, prosecutors said. Later, video shows Zambrano dragging the victim downstairs and out of the club.

Zambrano's attorney had no comment. Zambrano was initially charged with second-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape.

Zambrano admitted to cops that the drunken woman had trouble speaking, kept passing out and couldn't walk on her own. He also told investigators he thought she might have been drugged. The perp allegedly said he took the victim back to his College Point apartment and had sex with her two times, the Post reports.

This isn't the first time the scandal-plagued Marquee club has made headlines. In December, a Brooklyn beauty named Laura Garza vanished after leaving the club with a convicted sex offender, Michael Mele. Garza, 25, got into Mele's car and was last seen at about 5 a.m. in an upstate parking lot. Cops have searched for her body to no avail. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us