A federal grand jury indicted a Santa Clara man on a charge of assault on an intimate partner by strangling following a fight with his girlfriend, April 3 in Santa Clara.
U.S. Marshals S. Mudada and H. Shelby arrested Joseph Cata, 22, on a warrant for the charge on April 8, the same day it was signed. The grand jury indicted him on the same charge nearly a month later on May 1.
Bureau of Indian Affairs Special Agent Christian Velarde filed the charge against Cata after being called to investigate by the Santa Clara Pueblo Police Department. While the alleged strangulation happened in Santa Clara, Cata is an Ohkay Owingeh member and the alleged victim is a Jemez Pueblo member.
While federal prosecutors asked that Cata be held without bail, Federal Magistrate Judge Karen Molzen released him on his own recognizance on April 14 and ordered that he only be able to travel within Rio Arriba County, have no contact with the victim, have a substance abuse evaluation and a “psychiatric/medical treatment and mental health assessment/treatment/evaluation” as directed by the officer in charge of his pretrial release.
No arraignment has been set following the May 1 indictment.
The strangulation charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The Incident
Velarde wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant that Santa Clara police were sent to the 600 block of Jane Doege Edge Road on April 3, where the alleged victim said she was attacked by Cata, her boyfriend of nine years.
She told officers they had been arguing with their roommate when Cata “became enraged and struck her multiple times in the face with his hands, using both open-handed slaps and closed-fisted punches,” Velarde wrote.
Officers noted a bruised right eye, scratches, redness and “contusions” on her face “consistent with her account.” Forty minutes later, tribal officers called the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Velarde went to the woman’s sister’s house in Santa Fe to interview her. She additionally said they were cooking in the kitchen around 1 a.m. and she told Cata she was “uncomfortable with the way their roommate, M.W., spoke to and treated them,” Velarde wrote.
“JANE DOE stated that, during the argument, CATA told her to ‘shut up’ and struck her across the face multiple times,” Velarde wrote. “She recalled that CATA used both open and closed hands and that he subsequently placed both of his hands around her neck, applying pressure such that she could not breathe or scream.”
He told her he didn’t want to be with her any more, she pushed him away and got to the bathroom, and when she came out, she threw his cellphone at him, hitting him in the face. He then jumped on her back, put her in a choke hold, forcing them both to the bed, he wrote.
“The assault ended when the homeowner, M.W., intervened and ordered both individuals to stop and leave his residence,” Velarde wrote.
M. W. took Cata to his sister’s house in Truchas and the alleged victim was picked up by her aunt, who told her to contact law enforcement, he wrote.
Later that day, “law enforcement” interviewed M.W., who said around 1 a.m., the victim and Cata were loudly cooking in the kitchen and he told them to calm down. Around 3 a.m., “thumping sounds, screams, and the sound of the walls shaking from inside their bedroom” woke him and he could hear the victim yelling at Cata “to stop,” Velarde wrote.
“M.W. stated that he yelled for them to stop fighting, at which point the noise briefly ceased,” Velarde wrote. “He later heard JANE DOE flee to the bathroom before returning and slapping CATA. The struggle resumed, and, at around 5:00 a.m., M.W. again heard loud banging, movement, and muffled screams consistent with someone being suffocated or smothered. He also heard CATA yelling obscenities and ordering JANE DOE to ‘shut up.’”
M. W. told officers he opened the bedroom to intervene and saw both of them had “visible signs of injury.” The woman’s face was swollen, as if she’d been hit, and Cata’s face was swollen too, with a bite mark near his upper chest/shoulder area, he wrote.