Victim says sexual assault has changed who she is

COEUR d’ALENE — A 21-year-old who served 108 days in jail after sexually forcing himself on women at parties will serve 180 more days before being released on supervised probation as part of his sentence for one count of battery with intent to commit rape.

Anthony J. Ruiz was initially charged with one count of rape and one count of forcible sexual penetration, but First District Judge Scott Wayman on Monday accepted a plea agreement. The agreement calls for an underlying 20-year prison sentence that will be imposed if Ruiz doesn’t comply with probationary terms.

One of the victims, who is now 20, told the court on Monday that she was a high school honor-roll student when she stayed at a friend’s house in 2017 where Ruiz also stayed, and where, after a party, Ruiz forced her onto a bed, placed his knee on her abdomen and stripped her of clothing.

She didn’t report the incident to authorities but immediately told friends, who called police.

The incident that happened more than two years ago has left her scarred, the woman said.

“I was always a social butterfly. I was a determined person,” she said. The assault left her with severe anxiety.

“I’m not the same person,” she said. “I am always looking over my shoulder. I shake when I’m around people I don’t know. I have issues talking to people. I was never like that.”

Ruiz was indicted by a grand jury and arrested Jan. 26 on a warrant following an investigation in which police talked with alleged victims and witnesses as well as the defendant.

Ruiz told police he was intoxicated when he forced himself on the two women, who had also been drinking, at parties in Coeur d’Alene. In one case, he allegedly choked a 19-year-old woman at an apartment near the Kroc Center during a Halloween party. He allegedly forced the woman’s skirt off and penetrated her with a foreign object while pinning her against a wall. The woman kneed Ruiz in the face and escaped, locking herself in a bathroom until someone picked her up, court records state. In another case that occurred in April at an apartment on Fruitland Lane west of Lowe’s, Ruiz forced a then-18-year-old woman onto a bed, undressed her and had sex with her.

A June 19 jury trial was vacated when attorneys reached an agreement in the case. Wayman ordered 100 hours of community service followed by three years of supervised probation in addition to the local jail time, and said he would still consider restitution in the case.