29-year-old Jose Nestor Garcia Pena of Perham has been arrested and charged with 3rd Degree Assault for an incident that occurred on October 8th, 2022.
According to court documents, the victim told officials that she had been at a residence in Perham with a group of people including her boyfriend, later identified as Garcia Pena. She said she received a text message from someone and Garcia Pena got mad and accused her of cheating, before repeatedly punching and kicking her in the face and body. She also said he dragged her down the stairs and outside to try to get her to leave with him while he continued to hit her, but she was able to get away.
Later that month, officers were able to get in touch with Garcia Pena. He told the officers that he and the victim had been at a house party and that throughout the evening, he had gotten into multiple altercations with other people, and several tried to start fights with him. He claimed that when he was getting ready to leave someone came up from behind and grabbed him. He says he turned around and tackled the person to the ground and began punching and kicking them, before realizing that it was his girlfriend, the victim. He said he didn’t know why, but he continued to assault her after realizing it was her.
Medical records obtained by the State indicated that the victim sustained a minimally displaced nasal fracture and received sutures to close lacerations on her arm and forehead.
Garcia Pena was arrested Sunday night (October 6th) based on a warrant that the State issued in December 2022. He made his first court appearance earlier this morning (October 7th).