DENVER — The city on Tuesday suspended the liquor and cabaret licenses of a Denver nightclub after allegations that an unlicensed security guard sexually assaulted an underage female customer at gunpoint last month.
Denver’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection ordered Olympus Discotheque at 2036 Broadway to shut down immediately and its owner to appear at a virtual hearing next week following the alleged July 18 attack on the 18-year-old victim.
The suspect, identified as Vicente David Espino-Gonzalez, was arrested last month and is facing several felony charges, including two counts of sex assault, strangulation and kidnapping.
According to Denver police and city licensing documents, a woman told officers she was sexually assaulted, strangled and held at gunpoint by a security guard at Olympus Discotheque early on July 18 after escaping the nightclub and flagging down an officer.
Investigators said surveillance video captured much of the incident, showing security guard Espino-Gonzalez leading the woman into the club's basement before allegedly assaulting her for nearly an hour.
Police said the footage is alleged to show Espino-Gonzalez punching, kicking, dragging and strangling the woman, as well as holding a handgun to her head and neck while sexually assaulting her.
According to investigators, the woman identified Espino-Gonzalez as her attacker, and he was later arrested. Later that day, the nightclub's owner reported finding a Beretta handgun on a balcony couch that matched the victim's description of the weapon used during the assault.
According to Denver's licensing department, Espino-Gonzalez was working through a security company whose license had been expired for nearly two years, and the guard himself did not hold a valid Denver security guard license.
Investigators also accuse the nightclub's owner of serving underage patrons after an undercover operation conducted by DPD a week after the alleged assault.
