Casper businessman Tony Cercy threatened to kill the 20-year-old victim of an alleged sexual assault if she told anyone, a Natrona County Sheriff's investigator wrote in an affidavit.

"V1 (the victim) informed Investigator (Ken) Jividen, C told V1 not to tell anyone about the incident or C would find a way to make sure she was killed ....," according to the affidavit Jividen filed in Natrona County Circuit Court today.

The affidavit, which has most of the names redacted, was filed after Cercy appeared in circuit court for his initial appearance to hear the sexual assault charges read to him by Judge Steve Brown.

Cercy is charged with three counts related to the assault on June 24-25:

  • One count of first-degree sexual assault (rape), when the perpetrator "knew or reasonably should have known that the victim was physically helpless and that the victim had not consented," which is punishable by between five and 50 years of imprisonment.
  • One count of second-degree sexual assault (intrusion) "by means that prevent resistance by a victim," which is punishable by between two years to 20 years of imprisonment.
  • Once count of sexual contact "without inflicting sexual intrusion and without causing serious bodily injury," which is punishable by up to 15 years of imprisonment.

The Sheriff's Office assigned Jividen the case on June 28, when the victim was undergoing a sexual assault examination at the Wyoming Medical Center, according to the affidavit.

He interviewed her that day.

She told Jividen that she, her boyfriend, friends and acquaintances arrived at Alcova Lake on the evening of June 23 and spend the next day at the lake. She was drinking heavily and passed out on the rear deck of a boat at Sandy Beach.

They went to another location and about 9:45 p.m. went to a residence on Cedar Drive North owned by Cercy.

She said she went into the residence and passed out on the couch in the middle of the living room.

She woke up, looked down and saw Cercy performing oral sex. She pushed him away and asked what he was doing, and he responded he was trying to "'get some action'" from her for the last hour with his "'tongue and "d---,'" according to the affidavit.

Nearly all of her clothing had been removed and Cercy was naked from the waist down, according to the affidavit.

That's when he threatened to kill her.

That same day, another Sheriff's Office investigator obtained a search warrant to collect a DNA sample from Cercy. Cercy went to the Sheriff's office and he gave the sample without objection.

However, Cercy told the investigator, "C made a comment to the effect of, it didn't happen the way you think it happened. C then ended the interview," according to the affidavit.

Other witnesses corroborated the alleged victim's story.

The victim told one witness "'T raped me,'" according to the affidavit. That witness also had 19 missed calls from the victim's phone.

Another witness received a text message from the victim about 3:21 a.m. June 25 that said, "'Help please.'"

Another witness showed an investigator a short video of the victim asleep on the couch and covered with a blanket. The victim was not responsive to people trying to wake her up.

Some people at the residence were encouraging someone to sexually assault her, according to the video.

"Investigator Jividen could hear several voices in the video," according to the affidavit. "Investigator heard a male voice yell, 'f--- her', and a female voice yell, for 'T to shut the f--- up". Investigator Jividen heard a male voice yell, 'hey hottie, hey hottie.'"

About midnight, Cercy asked a large number of people to leave and one person tried to wake the victim.

Two witnesses said they left the residence at 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. respectively," according to the affidavit.

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