Chubbuck woman tied to toddler-with-a-gun video now charged with aggravated battery - East Idaho News
Crime Watch

Chubbuck woman tied to toddler-with-a-gun video now charged with aggravated battery

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POCATELLO — A woman who already faces prison for a felony charge of injury to a child has now been charged in connection with an attack that left another woman with significant injuries.

Analisa Rae Diaz, 19, has been charged with a felony aggravated battery, following an incident that occurred eight days before police were made aware of a video that shows Diaz holding a baby with a gun.

RELATED | Couple charged with injury to a child after police show video of gun-toting toddler

Pocatello police received a call reporting an altercation at a home on Scoria Court just after 11:30 p.m. Sept. 21, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

At the scene, the caller told officers he heard a knock at the front door of his home. He said a woman, later identified as Diaz, was at the door threatening to beat up a juvenile at the home.

His wife exited the home attempting to force Diaz to leave. But Diaz refused and began punching and kicking the woman. A man attempted to separate Diaz and the woman, but was grabbed by two males, the affidavit says.

Eventually, Diaz and the two males ran back to their car and left the area.

While the adults involved in the altercation told police they could not identify any of the people involved, a juvenile at the home was “adamant” the woman involved was Diaz, according to the affidavit. It is unclear if the juvenile who identified Diaz was the target of Diaz’s threats.

The female victim showed police extensive bruising on her face and arms, and said that her chest was tender but was not bruised.

Officers reviewed footage from the home’s doorbell camera.

While the video did not show the entire incident, police reports show that Diaz was identified as the woman who knocked on the door. Part of the video showed the female victim laying on the ground with multiple “unidentifiable figures” standing near her.

After officers left the home, they were called back by the male victim, who said he found a knife in his yard near where the altercation took place.

Officers returned to the home and collected the silver knife.

Joined by Chubbuck police officers, the Pocatello officers went to Diaz’s home. They knocked on the front door but the knocks were not answered.

Officers noted in reports that one of two vehicles in the home’s driveway matched a description of the vehicle used by Diaz and the others at the alleged attack. Officers inspected the vehicle and found that the engine was warm. Police reports also note there was a silver aluminum baseball bat on the passenger seat of the vehicle.

The Pocatello officers requested the Chubbuck officers be on the lookout for the vehicle — a white Ford Escape — before all officers left the area.

A short time later, the Pocatello officers received a call from one of the Chubbuck officers who had conducted a traffic stop on the Escape and located Diaz and four others inside the vehicle.

One of the passengers in the Escape was 20-year-old Matthew Carlos Chavez, who has also been charged with injury to a child related to the video showing a toddler holding a gun. The video, which was shown to Pocatello police officers last month, allegedly shows a child later determined to be 2 years old holding a handgun.

Court documents related to that case show that the toddler was being held, unrestrained, in a moving car while holding the gun. The video, which was shared on Diaz’s social media channels, also includes Chavez in the backseat of the car with the child.

Matthew Carlos Chavez
Matthew Carlos Chavez | Bannock County Jail

Officers removed Diaz from the vehicle and asked her about the Scoria Court incident. She denied being involved in any incident.

One of the officers informed Diaz she was seen in a video from the incident. But Diaz claimed to have been home all night, saying she “did not know how her face magically appeared” in the video, according to the affidavit.

Officers asked all five occupants of the vehicle if they were missing a silver knife. All five said they were not missing a knife. The officer then asked why there was a baseball bat inside the vehicle earlier. One of the occupants told the officer there had not been a bat in the car, the affidavit says.

Due to a lack of evidence, officers cited Diaz with disturbing the peace and allowed her to leave.

Four days later, on Sept. 25, the female victim of the attack contacted police to inform them a video of the attack had been posted on Facebook.

The video, which was posted to Diaz’s Facebook page, included the caption, “Internet thug until we pull up and you there crying.” It shows a person officers believe to be Diaz battering the female victim.

While talking to the officers, the victim said she went to Portneuf Medical Center to receive treatment for head pain she had suffered since the attack. She told officers she suffered a fractured orbital socket — the bones that surround and protect the eye — during the attack.

She told officers the male victim had suffered some minor injuries as well.

With the newly-acquired evidence and information, the investigating officer requested the disturbing the peace charge be dismissed and a new felony aggravated battery charge be filed.

Following his arrest for injuring a child arrest, officers spoke with Chavez at Bannock County Jail.

He allegedly confirmed Diaz was the person in both videos of the attack. Chavez said he was there, but was not involved in either of the separate attacks.

Asked about the knife, Chavez allegedly told police the knife did not belong to him, and that, to his knowledge, no one pulled a knife during the incident. But, he added, he was aware that people there did have knives.

Chavez was charged with a misdemeanor for battery, for his involvement in the incident.

Though Diaz and Chavez have been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean they committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If they are found guilty, Diaz could face up to 15 years in prison while Chavez could face up to one year. Diaz still faces 15 years for the previous charges. Chavez faces another 10 years.

Chavez is scheduled for arraignment into District Court before District Judge Rick Carnaroli on Nov. 13.

A preliminary hearing for Diaz has been waived. A District Court arraignment hearing has yet to be scheduled.

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