By Kelsey Givens

A 36-year-old man was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor.

Kenneth William Kenny Cardenas, 36, was arrested by Nye County Sheriff’s deputies on a charge of sexual assault of a minor under the age of 16 on Wednesday.

According to the declaration of arrest in the case, the victim reported that Cardenas assaulted her multiple times between March and June 2010.

The victim reportedly explained to authorities that the suspect was dating a relative and had access to her home.

The first time Cardenas allegedly touched the victim inappropriately, she said she told him no, but he threatened her by telling her he knew where all of the sharp objects in the home were.

This scared the victim, and she told authorities that she didn’t try to stop him after that.

She described several instances of abuse where Cardenas would allegedly come in and hold her down while he touched her inappropriately.

In another instance, she said she saw him performing a lewd act upon himself.

When a detective went to interview Cardenas, he allegedly denied the allegations and said none of that had ever happened.

He even submitted to a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer test to prove whether or not he was telling the truth.

The results allegedly came back showing Cardenas was being deceitful, and he then changed his answer a bit.

According to the declaration of arrest, Cardenas explained that on one occasion he had been playing with and tickling the victim when she allegedly took his hand and placed it in an inappropriate area on her body.

He told the detective he believed she was trying to seduce him.

Cardenas then told the detective about the other lewd incident and explained they had sat down for a family meeting to discuss it afterwards, and agreed it would never happen again.

He then reportedly said he hadn’t been back to the victim’s home since.

When the relative of the victim was interviewed about this alleged abuse, she told authorities she was aware of the lewd incident, but hadn’t seen it. She said the victim told her about it later and Cardenas also allegedly admitted to it happening as well.

During a forensic interview with counselors at a No To Abuse Center, the victim described the furniture where some of the incidents had taken place in the home.

A Nye County Sheriff’s detective subsequently obtained permission, according to the report, to enter and search Cardenas’ home.

After Cardenas had given him a key to the residence, the detective noted he observed a couch matching the victim’s description in his house.

When the detective went to the victim’s home, he said he observed evidence that matched the victim’s description of the lewd incident.

Based on the information discovered during the investigation, Cardenas was placed under arrest and transported to the Nye County Detention Center, where his bail was set at $100,000. He remains in custody in Tonopah pending an April 11 court appearance.