Española City Police officers charged a man who is on probation, with first degree kidnapping, false imprisonment and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly held a gun to a woman’s head and refused to let her leave a house she went to for New Year’s drinks.
Officers arrested Josue Orozco-Perez, 21, of Velarde, Jan. 1, on the charges after they were sent to the Calle Redonda house by dispatchers who received a call from a woman whispering into the phone to send the police, Officer Francisco Lovato wrote in a statement of probable cause for the man’s arrest.
Prosecutors filed a petition to have Orozco-Perez held without bail pending trial.
The woman told dispatchers she didn’t know what address she was at and for them to track her phone. When officers got there 10 minutes later, they found two men in the house, Orozco-Perez and another man the victim identified as her friend and the owner of the house, he wrote.
They found the victim inside the house, in Orozco-Perez’s bedroom, Lovato wrote.
“According to the two officers, (the victim) was crying and panicking inside a bedroom located on the south end of the residence,” he wrote. “When asked what happened, (the victim) stated ‘she was held at gun point and was brought to the residence against her will from an unknown location in town,’ once they arrived at the house, all parties started drinking alcohol, while at the residence.”
The victim said she wanted to leave but Orozco-Perez, whom she did not appear to know the name of, wouldn’t let her leave and pointed a handgun at her head and told her she couldn’t leave and if she tried, “they” would kill her, Lovato wrote.
The homeowner, whom the victim identified as her friend, told officers that she wanted to get away from her husband and have some New Year’s drinks and that she drove to his house in her car, which was still on the property, something officers confirmed, Lovato wrote.
The homeowner told officers that the victim got upset because he and Orozco-Perez didn’t want her to drive away because she had been drinking and wasn’t in the condition to drive, the officer wrote.
Officers then searched Orozco-Perez’s room, with the homeowners consent, and found a shotgun, which Orozco-Perez denied was his. Officers then realized he is on probation for an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge and later, adult probation officers issued a warrant for his arrest, he wrote.
The victim told officers the homeowner had no involvement in the incident and it was Orozco-Perez who held a gun to her head and wouldn’t let her out of his bedroom and that he said he was going to kill her family. She speculated he was involved with the cartel and said she was scared for her life. At some point, Orozco-Perez left the bedroom and she was able to call 911, Lovato wrote.
After the arrest, officers sought a search warrant for the house. What they found in the house is unknown. However, the victim alleged a handgun, not a shotgun, was pointed at her head.
Prosecutors filed a petition on Jan. 5 to have Orozco-Perez held without bail pending trial as a danger to the community.
Aggravated Assault
Orozco-Perez allegedly drove up to two men, on July 10, 2024 and either asked to work on their car or asked for $20, then fired a gun at the ground between their feet when they declined.
In that case, he was initially charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and prosecutors at the time asked for him to be held without bail, then withdrew that motion. He pleaded guilty to both counts in March 2025, both enhanced by five years because of his use of a firearm.
District Judge Jason Lidyard gave him a conditional discharge in the case with three years of supervised probation. Prosecutors could, but have not as of presstime, sought to have his probation revoked, which would expose him to a 13-year sentence.