4th Annual Reality TV Awards – Arrivals
Featuring: Bello Sanchez
Where: Hollywood, California, United States
When: 02 Nov 2016
Credit: WENN.com
On January 30, former “America’s Next Top Model” contestant Bello Sanchez says he was sexually assaulted by a man in a bathroom stall inside of Le Rouge nightclub in Paris. But when he went to authorities to report the matter, the LA native says ” They were of no help.”
Specifically, Sanchez claims cops administered an incomplete rape kit and did little to find the man who assaulted him. In a video to TMZ he explained he wants cops to finally “Look for that person.”
“Paris is so easy to find someone,” he said. “All the buildings are the same color, there’s not really a lot of places you can hide at. Why did they not look around in that moment as soon as they came when I told them? Why didn’t they do that? Why didn’t they ask questions to the security guards? They were of no help.”
Sanchez says it wasn’t until an advocacy group stepped in on his behalf 72 hours after the assault that he was given a proper rape kit. And he believes his race and sexuality have everything to do with how he was treated.
“If I was a little blonde white girl in Paris saying that happened to me things would have been different. I think my skin-tone, I think my gender, my sexuality, how I look, I think all those things had something to do with why I was not given the proper respect that I deserved. That’s what I believe.”
People magazine reached out to cops in Paris for comment but did not receive a response. Sanchez believes by going public with his rape he can force authorities to fully investigate his assault.
