By Jon Johnson
MORENCI – A jilted lover is behind bars after making threats to murder his ex-girlfriend’s family and then being located nearby armed with multiple firearms, brass knuckles, drugs, and other drug paraphernalia.
Otoniel Banales, 29, of Willcox, was arrested on Monday and booked into the Greenlee County Jail on multiple felonies.
According to the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office, Greenlee County Dispatch initially received a call from a woman concerning an issue with her recently ex-boyfriend.
The woman lived in Willcox with her boyfriend, later identified as Banales, but she worked at the mine in Morenci and had family there. She said she ended their relationship that morning and left the house without telling Banales where she was going. She was afraid to go to her family’s home in Morenci because she thought Banales might follow her.
Soon afterward, however, Banales reportedly sent the woman a photograph of her mother walking into her house with the caption stating that “when she got home, her family would all be dead,” according to a Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office release.
At that point, the woman called the authorities, and deputies from the Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Clifton Police Department responded to the scene in Morenci. They found Banales in his vehicle next to the woman’s relative’s house in the street.
After an investigation at the scene, Banales was taken into custody, and numerous items were seized from his vehicle, including a .45 caliber handgun, 12-gauge shotgun, prescription-only drugs not in his name, roughly 15 grams of crystal methamphetamine, and multiple items of drug paraphernalia.
Banales was booked into the Greenlee County Jail and had an initial appearance. Charges of possession of a dangerous drug and possession of drug paraphernalia were filed on Tuesday in Greenlee County Justice Court. Additional charges regarding the threats and firearms are pending an amended complaint from the Greenlee County Attorney’s Office.
