Court Date Postponed For Bartender Accused Of Rape In Palm Springs

INDIO (CNS) – A pivotal court hearing scheduled for a bartender accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after serving her drinks for several hours at a Palm Springs hotel was pushed back Wednesday to next month.

Alejandro Adan, 31, is suspected of raping the woman at the Kimpton Rowan Hotel at 100 W. Tahquitz Canyon Way last March.

He was set to appear for a preliminary hearing Wednesday, in which prosecutors typically present evidence that a judge weighs to decide whether a trial is warranted. The hearing is now scheduled for Jan. 11 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

Adan is charged with one count each of intent to commit rape, rape of an unconscious victim, sexual penetration of an unconscious victim, sexual penetration with a foreign object, rape of an intoxicated person and burglary, and a misdemeanor petty theft charge.

Adan, who remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail at the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio, faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of all his charges.

According to the Palm Springs Police Department, officers responded last March 3 and found Adan inside a hotel room where the woman was allegedly sexually assaulted.

The victim, whose age and other identifying information were not provided, was drinking at the hotel’s pool alongside her mother that afternoon, court papers say.

The mother told the police the bartender was friendly and flirted with her daughter, and that he “asked to see them after work.” Because her daughter was intoxicated, the mother took the woman back to her hotel room, the documents say.

The victim told authorities she took a shower and fell asleep, and next thing she remembers is waking up lying next to a man, court papers say.

According to police, Adan initially went to the adjoining rooms of the woman and her mother to return the alleged victim’s wallet, which she claimed to have lost earlier in the day. He allegedly returned two more times, and saw the woman’s mother leaving the room on his third visit to meet her husband in the hotel lobby.

When the woman’s parents returned, they saw their daughter “wrapped in a towel, crying and yelling a man was in her room,” according to court documents.

The parents found Adan in her room “buttoning his shorts and tightening his belt,” according to court records.

The father stayed with Adan while the mother called police. While waiting for police, Adan allegedly told the father, “I don’t know, I totally messed up,” court records state.

Adan has no felony convictions in Riverside County, court records show.