A Vancouver man who preyed on intoxicated women at bars and later recorded their sexual contact was sentenced Wednesday to more than seven years in prison.
Samnang Touch, 33, pleaded guilty in November in Clark County Superior Court to indecent liberties without forcible compulsion, first-degree voyeurism, third-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment. Two counts of first-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation and one count of second-degree rape were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Judge Gregory Gonzales sentenced Touch to 89 months in prison, the top of the standard sentencing range and two months more than the agreed-upon recommendation.
The judge said he did not believe Touch’s claims during the hearing that he has empathy for his victims or regrets his actions — only that he regrets getting caught. Gonzales said Touch expressed more sympathy for the pain and embarrassment his conviction caused his family than the suffering he caused the women he victimized.
“What you did to those three victims is reprehensible, outrageous, beyond comprehension,” Gonzales said. “Absolutely charade after charade, absolutely lie after lie, you took advantage of these victims.”
Between August and Oct. 27, 2019, Touch sexually assaulted three women while they were “extremely intoxicated,” according to court records.
Investigators found video and photos on Touch’s cellphone showing him inappropriately touching two women who were unconscious, “indicating a predatory sexual pattern,” the affidavit reads.
On Oct. 27, 2019, Touch approached one of the victims outside of a bar in Portland and told her he was her ride home to Vancouver. Touch gave the woman more alcohol while en route and, instead of taking her home, drove to Columbia Way near the Portco Tunnel leading to state Highway 14. Then he raped her in his vehicle.
At one point, she found what looked to be a dash camera with the light blinking, appearing to be recording, court records say.
Another woman reported that on Oct. 17, 2019, Touch sexually assaulted her at his residence after giving her at least four shots of alcohol, the affidavit says.
The woman told police she was supposed to meet up with a woman she met on a dating site at the Vancouver Mall, according to a pre-sentencing investigation. Touch arrived, claiming to know the woman she was waiting for, and offered to take her to his house to wait for her date. At his house, he continued to give her alcohol while pretending to drink himself. He later sexually assaulted her, court records state.
“The defendant captured video of the initial meeting with (the) victim and subsequently captured in-car footage of the victim after the sexual contact, in which she appears by her mannerisms and appearance to be extremely intoxicated,” the court document reads.
On Aug. 10, 2019, Touch met another woman at a Portland bar and offered to give her a ride home to West Linn, Ore. Instead, the victim awoke in Touch’s residence.
She said she didn’t give Touch permission to take her to his home and was unaware that while she was unconscious, he removed her clothing, inappropriately touched her and recorded the incident. Investigators found the video on his phone, according to the affidavit.
In all of the incidents, Touch claimed the sexual contact was consensual.
The affidavit also says police found photos and video of a Seattle woman who said she had no recollection of leaving a bar with Touch and did not know he had inappropriately touched and recorded her while she was unconscious. He was not charged locally with that alleged assault.
