Thursday, July 24, 2008

Police: Man Beat Mother

By Rozanna M. Martinez
Journal Staff Writer
      A Rio Rancho man accused of beating his mother and threatening another man from his car while holding a gun has been indicted in state District Court.
    Robert Jones, 27, was indicted by a Sandoval County grand jury on charges of assault with intent to commit a violent felony (firearm enhancement); aggravated battery against a household member (no great bodily harm); aggravated assault against a household member with a deadly weapon (firearm enhancement); interference with communications; larceny; and two counts of negligent use of a deadly weapon (firearm enhancement).
    According to a Rio Rancho police report, a man told police he was driving on 32nd Street on June 27 when a vehicle pulled beside him at King Boulevard. He recognized the passenger in the vehicle as Tabitha Waldron and the driver as her boyfriend.
    The driver, later identified as Jones, told him to pull over so they could talk, the report says. Jones had a gun in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
    Jones asked, "Do you know who I am? I'm DEA! I'm the police!" He accused the man's wife of calling police on Waldron, the report says.
    Jones held the gun up while he tried to take a photo with his cell phone. He told the man, "I'm going to get you! I'm going to get your wife! I'm going to get your family!" the report says. The man went home and called police.
    As police spoke with the man and his family, they received a call to respond to a home on Abrazo. The caller said her son, Jones, and Waldron had been at the house. She said they arrived in a Chevrolet and left in a Honda.
    A short time later, police got a call from a home on Pyrite Court where arguing and screaming could be heard in the background, the report says. Police went to the home and found Jones and Waldron and arrested them.
    Police later contacted the man who claimed he was threatened. He identified Jones as the one who threatened him and the Chevrolet as the car Jones was driving at the time.
    A witness at the Abrazo home told police Jones had gone there with Waldron to get a tattoo, the report says. Afterward, they left. The witness said Jones contacted him and told him about an altercation he had with his mother and Waldron.
    The witness said he met with Jones, who gave him the witness' gun and told him to "get rid of it," the report says. The witness said he had not given Jones permission to take the gun.
    The witness said he asked Jones why he stole the gun and Jones did not answer, according to the report. Jones did say he had fired it at his mother's home. The witness said the gun was loaded with 10 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition and the magazine was empty when Jones returned it.
    Jones' mother told police her son called her earlier that day asking to pick him and Waldron up, the report says. Jones told her police were looking for them.
    Jones' mother said she believed the two were under the influence "of intoxicating liquors" and refused to pick them up, the report says. She warned Jones not to come to her house.
    Later, she noticed Jones' and Waldron's vehicle parked outside her driveway. She found them on the deck in back of the house.
    Jones demanded she open the home's door and pointed a handgun through a window, according to the report. His mother opened the door.
    He pointed the gun in the air and fired off rounds, the report says. He then went inside, where his mother and Waldron began to argue. His mother asked the couple to leave and began to argue with Jones.
    He pushed her to the ground forcing her out of the house, the report says. She hid under a vehicle and then ran into the home and locked the door. Jones kicked it open and chased her to her bedroom, according to the report.
    Jones struck her several times, the report says. When she tried to call police, Jones broke the phone, the report says. He pushed her against a table and bit her on the neck. Jones and Waldron then left in a Honda.
    Jones was arrested and taken to the Sandoval County Detention Center. Waldron was taken to Ana Kaseman Hospital for a mental evaluation, the report says.
    Waldron, of Rio Rancho, is charged with five counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony and battery, according to court records. Her case is pending in Sandoval County Magistrate Court.
   

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