Man charged after allegedly punching woman and “stomping” on 8-year-old’s face

IDAHO FALLS – A 34-year-old man was arrested after reports he attacked a woman and abused a child by “stomping” on their head.

Casey Warren Ortega is charged with felony domestic battery with traumatic injury, felony injury to a child, and felony violation of a no-contact order.

According to court documents, on Dec. 30, around 9:20 p.m., Idaho Falls Police officers were called to a domestic disturbance at a home.

Dispatchers alerted officers that a man, identified as Ortega, was in a physical fight with a woman and her eight-year-old son. The reporting party stated that Ortega had left the home and was running northbound on North Fanning Avenue.

When officers arrived at the home, they spoke with the woman, who said she had been in a physical fight with Ortega and her son stepped in to break it up.

During the fight, the child reportedly “got knocked to the ground and (Ortega) ‘stomped’ on him.”

Ortega then left the apartment and the woman called 911.

According to the woman, she was punched by Ortega. Officers say she had a “large red mark with blood” on her left cheek, approximately four centimeters long.”

Officers also spoke to the child, who said Ortega hit his mother approximately five times.

The child said he pushed Ortega away from his mother, was knocked to the ground, and Ortega “stomped” on his face.

Officers say the child’s nose was “extremely crooked,” and there was “a large bloody patch on the upper bridge of his nose that extended to the upper portion of his left cheek.”

The boy also had a “bloody scrape mark” on his chin.

Officers learned that Ortega and the woman have protection orders against each other and Ortega allegedly violated the protection order seven times since July.

Ortega was later located at the Side by Side Outlet at 1708 East Lincoln Road.

He allegedly denied that he had been in a fight with the woman and her son. According to police reports, officers spoke with other witnesses who corroborated that Ortega was at the home and was in a fight.

Police say Ortega appeared to have “a dark red mark that looked like blood on the left leg of his pants” and that his “right middle finger knuckle also had a ripped open callus.”

Ortega was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on $150,000 bond. He is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 14. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.

Though Ortega has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.