By Travis Uresk
4/19/24
| Vernal, Ut. | April, 12th, 2024 |
A neighbor called 911 saying they could hear fighting next door and saw his female neighbor with a fresh black eye.
When Officer Murray arrived on scene, he found the victim outside the residence and noticed her left eye was swollen shut and had bruises around her neck.
When asked what happened, the victim stated that 27-year-old Erik Marquez-Reyna was upstairs talking on the phone in the bathroom. When she asked who he was talking to, he became angry and agitated.
The victim stated Erik had been drinking and asked him to leave. That's when Erik slapped her across the face, began to cry, and continued to ask Erik to leave. Erik told her, "Stop crying before I give you something to cry about."
The victim stood up and made her way to her bedroom adjacent to the bathroom, with Erik following behind her. The victim turned and faced Erik when he reached out and grabbed her around the neck, knocking her back onto the bed and choking her. The victim hit Erik in the head with her phone, but he punched her in the eye.
Additional police units arrived on scene and entered the home where Erik was sitting on the couch. Police gave Erik commands to stand up, but he refused. The officers helped him off the couch and placed Erik in handcuffs, taking him into custody.
Another unit transported Erik to jail while Officer Murray took photos of the victim and the bathroom/bedroom where the altercation took place. While going over the crime scene, the officer noticed a desk knocked over with miscellaneous items scattered all over the room. In the bathroom were drops of blood on the floor.
While at the jail, the nurse discovered a gash on the back of Erik’s head requiring staples, and he was transported to the hospital, where he was treated for the gash. While there, it was discovered that Erik had a broken right hand as well. Erik also had his blood alcohol level tested and was at a .270 BrAC.
Erik was then taken back to the Uintah County Jail, where he was charged with one count of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, for impeding the breathing and circulation of blood of the victim by using unlawful force or violence by applying pressure to the neck/throat of the victim. Erik was also charged with one count of intoxication as he was under the influence of alcohol and was a danger to both him and the victim.
On April 13th, 2024, at 2:30 p.m., Deputy R. Cook was working in the Booking area of the Uintah County Jail when he was notified by Deputy D. Simper that Inmate Erik Marquez-Reyna's phone call sounded suspicious and could be a violation of the jail release agreement.
An investigation into Erik's phone calls using a voice recognition program found that he had contacted the victim listed on the jail release agreement with the victim's phone number that Erik had previously called earlier in the day. During the phone call, the victim can be heard telling Inmate Marquez-Reyna, "You know you're not supposed to be calling me."
The conversation throughout the call talks about the aggravated assault that occurred the day before. The incident they were talking about is directly related to why the Jail Release Agreement was implemented. Inmate Marquez-Reyna can be heard at one point during the call telling the victim not to press charges against him.
Deputy Ellis explained to Inmate Marquez-Reyna the Jail Release Agreement and what it meant earlier in the day. Inmate Marquez-Reyna stated that he understood what the Jail Release Agreement meant and signed it stating that he did.
Inmate Erik Marquez-Reyna is being charged with three counts of Violation of a Protective Order 78b-7-806(2)(b). One charge for each attempted call of the victim, and Witness Tampering for telling the victim not to press charges 76 8-508(1)(b).
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