The Barton County Attorney’s office recently sought to have the bond revoked on a Great Bend man facing charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and domestic battery. Dalton Contrerez, 28, has been wearing an electronic monitoring device as a condition of his bond but reportedly allowed the device’s battery to go dead on three or more occasions in February.
Contrerez appeared before District Judge Ron Svaty on Friday, as Assistant County Attorney Amy Mellor presented a motion to revoke his bond. He returned to the county jail for the weekend, but was released Monday after receiving a new GPS monitoring device.
Mellor said he had failed to meet the conditions of his release by allowing the battery to die on the Axis Monitoring GPS ankle bracelet that he had agreed to pay for, wear and charge for two hours a day. By agreeing to the device, he was able to have his $100,000 bond reduced to a $100,000 own-recognizance bond on Feb. 4.
On one occasion in mid-February the monitoring company reported sending Contrerez a text message warning him the battery was not charged and should be plugged in immediately, but he did not respond for several hours, Mellor said. He later replied with a text saying he had been asleep but was plugging in.
Mellor cited reports from Axis that the battery was dead for one or more hours each day from Feb. 13-15.
However, Contrerez’s attorney, Donald E. Anderson II, said not all of the violations were his client’s fault. He learned from the company that for some reason the monitoring device issued to Contrerez would not hold a charge. “They are getting him a new monitor,” Anderson said, adding Contrerez would receive the newest version of the company’s monitoring devices the next time a representative came to town.
Svaty asked if there had been other problems with Axis Monitoring, but attorneys agreed it has been a reliable company. The judge asked that the company official who delivers a new monitor to Contrerez report to the county attorney.
“Now you get to sit in jail until they get it done,” Svaty said to Contrerez.
His pending charges stem from events on the evening of Dec. 29, 2015, when the Barton County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 100 block of Kiowa Road, southeast of Great Bend. Deputies were dispatched to a domestic battery situation in which a female victim was allegedly taken against her will.
An “attempt to locate” bulletin was issued for a truck that was later spotted in Great Bend by a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper. When the trooper attempted to stop the vehicle, the male occupant, later identified as Contrerez, reportedly bolted from the truck and ran. He was found hiding in the crawl space of a residence.