Vegas woman due in court on child abuse charges
A Las Vegas woman is scheduled to be arraigned in San Miguel Magistrate Court this week following charges of child abuse and battery of a household member stemming from a February incident.
According to a statement of probable cause filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court, Las Vegas Police were dispatched to a house in the 2100 block of Romero Street just after 12 a.m. Feb 11 regarding a domestic dispute.
Valerie M. Ortiz, 31, told police she and a man she lived with had been arguing and that the man had pushed her to the ground several times, causing her to strike her head against the wall. Ortiz said she then locked herself in a bathroom for about two hours, but when she exited, the two began to argue again.
Ortiz told police she grabbed a knife and began stabbing the walls because she was angry. She said she’d been attempting to keep the man inside the house because the two kids who resided in the home were crying and she wanted them to calm down.
According to court filings, the man admitted to striking Ortiz, but told police it was in self-defense because Ortiz was trying to attack him. He also stated Ortiz never threatened him with the knife, and he declined to file charges against her.
Officers located the knife in the master bedroom, behind a dresser. Following an investigation, officers charged Ortiz with two third-degree felony counts of abuse of a child for placing children in a dangerous situation, one misdemeanor count of battery against a household member and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property.
Ortiz was booked into San Miguel County Detention Center on Feb. 11 but has since been released on a $2,000 bond. A judge also ordered Ortiz to have no contact with the man or the children. Ortiz is due in San Miguel Magistrate Court Thursday at 10 a.m.
