HILLSBORO, Ore.- On September 22, 2020, Judge Oscar Garcia sentenced Hugo Alexis Zaldana-Mendoza to 100 months in prison. On September 17, 2020, a Washington County jury found Mr. Zaldana-Mendoza guilty of first-degree burglary, first-degree sex abuse and first-degree sexual penetration. Senior Deputy District Attorney Allison Brown prosecuted the case against the defendant. A jury originally convicted the defendant in 2015, but the case was reversed by the Oregon Court of Appeals and sent back to the Washington County Circuit Court for a new trial.

In the early morning hours of June 1, 2015, the victim awoke suddenly to the sound of a barking dog. She then spotted the defendant as he walked into her room and sat on her bed. She immediately recognized the defendant as a neighbor from her same apartment complex. The defendant did not have permission to enter the victim’s home.

The defendant then sexually assaulted the victim. The victim’s young son began to cry, and she used this as an opportunity to escape the bedroom. She then locked herself and her son in the bathroom for more than ten minutes. She then exited the bathroom and ordered the defendant to leave her home upon realizing he was still inside. She immediately called police after he left.

Beaverton police responded and spotted the defendant in the apartment complex. He admitted to detectives that he had climbed up to the victim’s second-floor balcony to gain entrance to her apartment. He then claimed that the sexual contact had been consensual.

This office wishes to acknowledge the bravery of the victim in reporting the crimes committed by the defendant. This office also wishes to thank the Beaverton Police Department, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Police Forensic Laboratory for their work on this case. The defendant will be transferred to the Oregon Department of Corrections to resume serving his sentence.