Man arrested in violent Avon assault

AVON, Colo. — An illegal immigrant who sexually assaulted a woman in an Avon apartment was arrested Monday, said Chief Brian Kozak of the Avon Police Department.

Ruben Mendoza-Calzadillas, 28, of Mexico, held the woman in an apartment for several hours early Monday morning, took her clothes off, dragged her to another part of the apartment, sexually assaulted her and bit her face, Kozak said.

“She resisted and said, ‘no,’” Kozak said.

Mendoza-Calzadillas also took the woman’s cell phone and removed the battery, Kozak said. The woman had cuts and scratches on her face, arms, legs and ankles, Kozak said.

The woman’s name is being withheld to protect her identity.

The incident took place between about 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and Mendoza-Calzadillas gave back the woman’s cell phone Monday at 7 a.m., Kozak said.

Mendoza-Calzadillas told her only to call him, Kozak said.

The woman left the apartment, went to her sister’s home and the women reported the incident to police about 1 p.m. Monday, Kozak said.

“She was very emotionally traumatized,” Kozak said about the alleged victim.

Mendoza-Calzadillas was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and second-degree kidnapping, both felonies, and obstruction of telephone services and domestic violence, both misdemeanors, according to jail records. He was being held in Eagle County jail on a $15,000 bond Tuesday night.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been notified so that Mendoza-Calzadillas will be deported after his case goes through the courts, Kozak said.

No attorney was listed on jail records for Mendoza-Calzadillas.

slynn@vaildaily.com