By Tori Gacutan
RIVERSIDE, CA – A preliminary hearing for the accused, accused of burglary and trying to dissuade a witness while threatening to kill a leasing manager, was held here in Riverside County Superior Court last week.
The accused faces an arraignment on the charges Aug. 16 after the court ruled there was enough evidence to move the case to trial.
The victim testified that in April of this year, she saw the accused, one of her tenants, who, after she went back to her apartment, began to bang on her security door and call her names.
She added that “not two or three minutes passed by when he came and broke my security door.”
The victim added, “He was angry. He just kept yelling, saying that I was stupid. He was just cussing me out. I believe he was holding something and then he reaches up and smacks the side of the security door. That’s when we (the witness and her boyfriend) heard a big bang. When I came outside to see, it (the door) was broken.”
The victim added that when she went to her kitchen window, the accused told her if she steps outside her door, he will kill her and shoot her. The witness has a video of the accused making the threat.
The victim said she begged the accused, “Please leave me alone.”
Previous to this incident, in February, the accused said the witness/victim was upset she couldn’t accept cash for a mail key, and she revealed that, in March, the accused also banged the witness’s apartment screen with a golf club.
During this interaction on March 22, 2022, the witness filed a restraining order against the accused. The restraining order then turned into a protective order.
Deputy Isaac Moran said he was one of the deputies who responded to the incident, and testified, “[The accused] was detained. I proceeded to speak to the victim and that was when I got her statement. She was distraught, crying, in fear for her safety and I was trying to calm her down and get a clear statement about what happened.”
Deputy Moran said the accused had broken the metal mesh security door of the witness’s apartment door multiple times before this incident.
On the surveillance footage, Deputy Moran explained that while he was transporting the accused in his vehicle, the accused said he should not have been at her apartment and that he was not in love with the victim/witness, but instead the witness was in love with him.
Deputy Moran asked the witness what relationship she had with the accused, and she stated that she had none, except that he was her tenant.
