Victor Oritz pleads not guilty to rape, sexual assault charges
Boxer Victor Ortiz, a former WBC welterweight title holder, pleaded not guilty to three felony sexual assault charges, one a count of forcible rape, in an incident for which he was arrested in late September.
The 31-year-old Ortiz made the plea Wednesday in Ventura County Superior Court in California, according to USA Today. The incident happened in Oxnard, California, in March and police investigated for months before filing charges Sept. 24.
Ortiz was arrested Sept. 25, days before a scheduled nationally-televised bout against John Molina, Jr. Ortiz was released on $100,000 bail and his name was pulled from the card days later.
Ortiz, lawyer make no comment after not-guilty plea
Mark Pachowicz, Ortiz’s lawyer, entered the not-guilty plea in court Wednesday and neither one commented on the case to reporters outside the courtroom.
Pachowicz later told The Ventura County Star exclusively that the legal team will now officially inquire about the allegations.
“We entered our plea of not guilty, and we’re going to begin our work and our investigation to get to the bottom of this,” Pachowicz told the Star.
Ortiz faces three charges of sexual assault, including one of forcible rape. He faces a maximum sentence of 24 years in state prison, according to the report, and is due in court Dec. 3 for an early disposition conference.
Police spent months investigating incident with Ortiz
A woman went to the police March 19 to report a sexual assault inside an Oxnard residence, according to police.
The department spent the next six months investigating before issuing a warrant for Ortiz’s arrest on Sept. 24. Ortiz turned himself in the next day and was released on bond later in the day.
Supervising Senior Deputy District Attorney Brent Nibecker would not give any details of the case to reporters, nor did he disclose the relationship between Ortiz and the alleged victim.
He told reporters it was to protect the identity of the victim and to protect Ortiz’s right to a fair trial.
Ortiz is a 2005 graduate of Pacifica High School in Oxnard. He held the WBC welterweight title in 2011 and holds a 32-6-3 record with 25 knockouts.
He has appeared in movies including “The Expendables 3,” “Southpaw” and “Once Upon a Time in Venice.”
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