Man charged with sexually assaulting Tri-Cities woman on ride home from bar

An Othello man is accused of sexually assaulting a woman after offering the victim and her friend a ride from a Pasco bar.

Video from inside the Burden Boulevard bar reportedly shows Ruben Martinez Jr. follow the two women out, and later return to tell the bartender he drove them home to Richland.

However, the women actually jumped out of his stopped truck in their attempt to get away from Martinez at some point during the drive, according to court documents.

Police were able to track down Martinez because he signed a winning pull tab at the bar, documents said.

Martinez, 41, is charged in Benton County Superior Court with indecent liberties with forcible compulsion.

He is locked up on $30,000 bail for the felony charge, with a current trial date of Dec. 6.

Court documents show that it started Sept. 14 after a bartender at The Dugout refused to keep serving drinks to the two women and told them to leave.

The intoxicated women ultimately had to be escorted by police to the convenience store across the street, documents said. While there, the pair told officers that someone was coming to pick them up, so the officers left.

The women were still waiting when Martinez approached them and offered to drive them home. They both got into the front seat of his truck.

During the ride, Martinez allegedly put his hand on one woman’s leg and squeezed it.

The woman kept pushing Martinez’s hand away and said she just wanted to go home, but he insisted that she go with him back to Othello, court documents said.

He then sexually assaulted the woman, who was wearing a skirt, documents said. The assault happened after they’d crossed the river into Benton County.

“The women freaked out and demanded to be let out of the car immediately,” documents said. Martinez stopped his truck and the women jumped out.

After police were contacted, they went to The Dugout and got video of that night’s interactions with the two women and Martinez.

Martinez reportedly could be seen sitting near the pair, but they never socialized with him. The video then shows him follow the women out after they were cut off, court documents said.

When he returned later that night, Martinez, played pull tabs and won $100, documents said.

The bartender had him sign his name and birth date on the winning pull tab in order to get paid. That pull tab was given to police as part of their investigation.