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GREELEY, Colo. — A man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman after he cut off her apartment’s power in 2016 was sentenced to prison on Monday.
Damaige Plascencia, 30, was sentenced by Weld County District Court Judge Allison Esser to 26 years to life in the Department of Corrections, according to the Nineteenth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Deputy District Attorney Arynn Clark argued for 48 years to life, which was the maximum sentence.
However, 26 years was the maximum permitted after a judicial determination that Plascencia did not qualify for a sentence in the aggravated range, according to the district attorney’s office.
The charges stem from an incident on Dec. 30, 2016. Around midnight, officers with the Evans Police Department responded to an apartment complex along the 3000 block of Denver Street in Evans after a woman had called 911 and said she was raped in her home, according to an arrest affidavit.
The woman explained that she had arrived home around 10:20 p.m., locked her door and cleaned her kitchen. Afterward, she went upstairs to shower. Nobody else was in the home, she said.
As she was showering, the lights in her apartment went out. She stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her and walked into the bedroom, where she felt around in the darkness. Then, Plascencia, who was 25 years old at the time, grabbed her from behind, according to the affidavit.
The woman told police she believed the lights went out about five minutes before she was grabbed, according to the arrest affidavit.
He covered her mouth with his hand and blankets and raped her, the district attorney’s office said. He said “shh” multiple times.
The woman told officers she believed she was going to die in that moment. Plascencia then left and closed the bedroom door.
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The woman said she then left the room, searched for her phone to use as a light, and went downstairs to the circuit breaker box. She said the box was halfway open and noted it is normally closed. When she flipped the circuit breaker switches, the lights all turned on, according to the arrest affidavit.
She was able to provide a description of the suspect, who she didn’t see, to police. However, she said she believed the suspect was Plascencia based on his voice when he said, “shh.” She said Plascencia had been her roommate for some time but her daughter had kicked him out. Both the woman and her daughter had a bad feeling about him, according to the affidavit.
The woman described him as “machismo” and having “manliness used to dominate women and keep them ‘in their place,'” the affidavit reads.
At a medical center, the woman underwent a sexual assault nurse examination, which was submitted to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
On April 4, 2017, at the request of police, Plascencia traveled to the Evans Police Department for an interview about the case. He denied sexually assaulting the woman and consented to collection of a buccal swab for his DNA, according to the affidavit.
The following day, the laboratory determined that the DNA matched Plascencia.
He was then arrested and charged.
Plascencia was convicted in November of sexual assault, kidnapping, and burglary.
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