A Missouri man was arrested late Tuesday after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend at a West Des Moines motel and then texting a sex video of her.
Nelson M. Melendez, 30, of 1702 Francis Ave., St. Joseph, Missouri, was charged with domestic assault with injury and harassment by communication.
The incident began about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday at 205 64th St. in West Des Moines, in the parking lot of the Hilton Garden Inn at Jordan Creek Town Center, where officers of the West Des Moines Police Department responded to a report of a domestic disturbance.
The officers observed on the victim “a visible bruise on her left arm consistent with a bite mark.”
The victim told the officers that Melendez “struck her in the face with an open-palm hand once and bit her on her arm when she tried to leave the car,” according to court records.
After the alleged assault, Melendez fled the scene with the victim’s cellular phone prior to the arrival of law enforcement.
The victim told the officers that while Melendez was in possession of her phone, “a sexually explicit video of her was sent to people through text messaging,” according to court records.
The victim told the officers that she “was very upset and did not want those videos sent out.”
Melendez returned to the scene shortly afterward with the phone, and the investigation determined that he “was in possession of the phone at the time the sexually explicit videos were sent out,” according to court records.
Melendez allegedly “admitted that the mark (on the victim) may have gotten there when he grabbed her left arm to stop her from consuming the pills.”
Melendez is held in the Dallas County Jail on a $2,000 cash or surety bond. He is scheduled doe a preliminary hearing April 9 in Dallas County District Court.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
