Francisco Rodolfo Cortez
Police responding to a call of a man beating a much smaller woman on Sunday found the attack still underway when they arrived. An officer had to kick in a door to rescue the battered victim.
Francisco Rodolfo Cortez, 23, was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated sexual battery, especially aggravated burglary and interference with an emergency call.
In the early afternoon incident, an officer hurried to a residence on Hughes Avenue while being told the woman was still being beaten. The officer said he had to kick in a door to get inside. When he did, he found an Hispanic male of about 250 pounds standing over an Hispanic female of about 120 pounds, who was lying in bed.
There were two small children in the room crying.
When the officer entered, Cortez moved his hand under a pillow. The officer ordered him away from the bed and was able to get him handcuffed.
The woman had obvious injuries to her face and throat. EMS personnel found that she also had a bite mark on her arm. She had contusions and abrasions to her face, throat and ribs. She was placed in a neck brace and taken to the hospital.
The caller said she saw Cortez striking the woman repeatedly in the ribs. She said when she tried to intervene he told her he would kill her if she called police. She said he also told the woman he was beating that he would kill her.
The caller said when she fled the residence to make the call for help that Cortez resumed beating the woman, striking her with closed fists, biting her and strangling her with his hands.
She said he had beaten her before and her glass eye came from one of those attacks.
Police said they were told that Cortez is the woman's ex-boyfriend, but the children are not his.
At the hospital, the woman said Cortez had come to her house three days earlier, but she refused to have sex with her and to take her back.
She said he began to send her threatening texts. She said he somehow obtained a key to her home and was waiting for her inside when she arrived home from work.
She said he began to grab at her private areas and try to disrobe her. She said he forced her and the children into the bedroom and told her he would kill her if she did not have sex with him.
The woman claimed he had raped her in the past.
She said he destroyed her cellphone to keep her from calling the police.
The other woman then arrived and he threatened her, it was stated.
Cortez is being held under bonds totaling $205,000.