A Democratic state consultant denied Friday that he had ever abused his ex-wife, and he blasted a Republican mailer that re-raised allegations in marketing campaign literature despatched this week to voters in his district.
Littleton police in 2015 investigated the allegations in opposition to Rep. David Ortiz and didn’t discover sufficient proof to arrest or cost him. The mailer containing the claims, paid for by the Restore Colorado Management Fund, exhibits photos of Ortiz alongside pictures of bruises on what look like a girl’s arm. It quotes from the 2015 police report detailing the abuse allegations in opposition to Ortiz and features a textual content message Ortiz despatched to his ex-wife.
A search of a Colorado Bureau of Investigations database exhibits Ortiz, an incumbent consultant locked in a good re-election race, has by no means been arrested or charged within the state. Police listed here are required to arrest somebody if there’s possible trigger to imagine they dedicated home violence.
In a press release posted to Fb late Friday afternoon, Ortiz denied the allegations and referred to as the mailer “a disgusting, dishonest assault advert from a darkish cash GOP smear group … making an attempt to impugn my character by dragging up an allegation that I acted abusively towards my ex-wife after we broke up.”
Ortiz declined to remark past his assertion Friday evening.
He appeared to acknowledge the textual content message referenced within the mailer was correct. He wrote that on the time of the alleged incident, he was “present process intensive rehabilitation” ensuing from his accidents whereas serving within the Military and that he was “not happy with the issues I wrote in textual content messages throughout that point.”
Ortiz’s seat is taken into account a specific goal of Republicans in November because the GOP appears to be like to trim away the Democratic majority within the chamber. Present Speaker and Denver Democrat Alec Garnett declined to remark Friday, as did Democratic Rep. Chris Kennedy. Different lawmakers didn’t return messages in search of remark.
Ortiz’s ex-wife, whom the Denver Submit will not be naming due to the character of the allegations, didn’t return a message late Friday afternoon.
The mailer comes greater than seven years after the investigation concluded in late February 2015. The police report, obtained by the Denver Submit this week, exhibits police performed a two-day investigation and spoke with Ortiz, his ex-wife and a good friend who was staying with Ortiz on the time.
On Feb. 27, 2015, a Littleton Police officer referred to as Ortiz’s ex-wife, who mentioned she needed to report that she had been crushed. She and Ortiz had divorced a number of years earlier than, and she or he had come and stayed with him in Littleton at his invitation.
She instructed police that Ortiz had gotten mad at her after she had an excessive amount of to drink close to the tip of her go to and that he had then allegedly grabbed her, “hit her within the hip, and the leg,” in keeping with the report.
She mentioned that the following day, Ortiz allegedly grabbed, restrained and hit her once more. He then apologized, in keeping with the report, earlier than allegedly driving her “to the center of the ghetto” and leaving her there. She mentioned she referred to as a good friend, who picked her up.
The good friend didn’t reply to messages left by the Denver Submit late Friday.
Ortiz spoke with Littleton police a day after his ex-wife. He mentioned the go to had been tremendous till the final evening, after they’d gone to a bar on West Colfax and had a disagreement. Ortiz instructed police he “needed nothing to do” along with her conduct and left. He mentioned he texted her that she may come to get her stuff and that he needed nothing else to do along with her, in keeping with the report.
Law enforcement officials arrived with the lady’s good friend the following day to gather her issues, Ortiz instructed police. In line with the report, Ortiz mentioned these officers didn’t converse with him then.
Ortiz’s ex-wife instructed police that Ortiz had beforehand referred to as her numerous names and been bodily abusive.
She despatched copies of a number of textual content messages and pictures of bruises to police; the pictures have been allegedly taken on her flight residence from Colorado. The messages, allegedly despatched by Ortiz, name the lady a “psycho” and inform her to depart.
The investigating officer reviewed 5 photos of bruised legs and arms of an unidentified lady, in keeping with the report, and she or he decided they confirmed “what seemed to be pretty previous bruises.”
In the end, police determined to shut the case as a result of the investigating officer was “unable to establish to whom the legs and arms belong within the pictures that (Ortiz’s ex-wife) emailed to me, (there have been no) unbiased witnesses, and general inadequate proof.” The lady’s good friend additionally didn’t return a message from the police, in keeping with the report.
In his assertion, Ortiz, who’s an Military veteran, mentioned each the Military and Littleton Police investigated the allegations and decided they “lacked ample, credible data or proof.”
“To be very clear: I’ve by no means, and would by no means, be violent towards a associate,” Ortiz wrote.
In a remark posted underneath Ortiz’s Fb assertion, fellow Democratic Rep. Monica Duran defended Ortiz and mentioned the mailer was a “smear marketing campaign” and “vile.” Duran is a home abuse survivor.