LOGAN — A 22-year-old Nibley man was arrested Saturday after allegedly tracking his ex-girlfriend with a smartphone application, pushing her from a moving truck, stepping on her face, and strangling her until she nearly lost consciousness. Daniel Benitez-Maldonado was booked into the Cache County Jail by Cache County Sheriff’s deputies.
Benitez-Maldonado made an initial appearance Monday in Logan’s 1st District Court, appearing by video from jail. He was charged with aggravated assault producing loss of consciousness, a second-degree felony, two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, and seven misdemeanors for sexual battery, criminal mischief, interrupting a communication device, and assault.
According to a probable cause statement, the investigation began Saturday morning when deputies responded to a welfare check called in by the victim’s grandparents. Paramedics with the Logan Fire Department evaluated the woman at the scene before transporting her to Logan Regional Hospital. During an interview at the hospital’s behavioral health unit, the woman detailed a violent sequence of events that occurred earlier that night.
The woman told deputies she had ended her cohabitant relationship with the Nibley man earlier in the day. That evening, an intoxicated Benitez-Maldonado used a shared Life360 location-tracking app to find her at a house party in Nibley. The woman willingly got into his midsize truck, and he drove her toward his brother’s residence.
While travelling at a slow speed, Benitez-Maldonado reportedly attempted to forcibly take the woman’s cell phone before opening the passenger door and shoving her out onto the concrete pavement. When she refused to provide her phone passcode, the suspect threw her to the ground and repeatedly stepped on both sides of her face, forcing her mouth into the concrete and causing cuts and bleeding inside her upper lip, court documents state.
Benitez-Maldonado then lifted the woman up and pressed her against the side of his truck, strangling her neck for an estimated 15 seconds while groping her chest and shouting slurs, according to the affidavit. The woman reported experiencing difficulty breathing, tunnel vision, dizziness, and a partial loss of consciousness during the assault.
The woman managed to break free when Benitez-Maldonado lost his grip, but he chased her down as she attempted to flee. The Nibley man forcibly grabbed her wrists—leaving visible marks—and seized her cell phone, throwing it to the ground with enough force to shatter the screen, split the frame, and render it unusable, preventing her from calling for help, deputies wrote.
After the woman’s grandparents picked her up and brought her home. A forensic nurse at Logan Regional Hospital documented physical evidence of strangulation.
During Monday’s video arraignment, Judge Angela Fonnesbeck ordered Benitez-Maldonado to be held without bail, expressing concern about the violent nature of the case and the potential danger to the alleged victim. She also ordered him to appear again in court Oct. 19.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.