Odessa man charged following alleged Mother’s Day assault, kidnapping

MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- An Odessa man was arrested on a warrant late last week after investigators said he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend at a Midland gas station, and then drove away with her young child. Samuel Esli Maulas-Torres, 38, has been charged with Aggravated Kidnapping.

According to court documents, around 4:00 a.m. on May 14, officers with the Midland Police Department were called to the Pilot gas station on Rankin Highway after someone called 911 and said that a woman in the store was crying after being left at the station. At the scene, officers met with a woman who said that she and her boyfriend, identified as Maulas-Torres, had been celebrating Mother’s Day at her daughter’s house in Odessa- she said when they left her daughter’s home, Maulas-Torres got behind the wheel, even though he’d been drinking.

The couple reportedly got into an argument while heading down Interstate 20- that’s when Maulas-Torres said he was going to drive to Arlington. The woman said she didn’t want to go to Arlington, so she convinced Maulas-Torres to stop at the gas station. That’s when things escalated, according to the victim.

The woman told investigators that Maulas-Torres allegedly choked her, pulled her hair, and punched her multiple times. He then left the woman at the gas station and drove away with her child.

Investigators called the woman’s family and asked if Maulas-Torres had contacted them about the boy, but they had not heard from. Officers then followed the woman to the hospital, where she’d been taken for treatment for her injuries.

While at the hospital, the victim’s daughter called and said that Maulas-Torres was outside her home with the child- investigators said he left the boy with family and then drove away. Afterward, investigators requested a warrant and Maulas-Torres was taken into custody on June 2. He remained in the Midland County Detention Center as of Wednesday afternoon on a $75,000 bond.

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