Samurai Sword, Strangulation and Spitting Lead to Five Felony Indictments

Five San Angelo men were indicted on various assault and harassment charges in December, some of which included instances of strangulation, spitting and threats with a Samurai sword.

All of the incidents began as domestic violence calls and range from state jail to second-degree felonies, including one enhanced to the first degree. The following information stems from court documents pertaining to each incident.

Daniel Ramos Morales

On Oct. 1, San Angelo police were dispatched to a residence in the 1200 block of Luna St. for the report of a domestic disturbance.  Upon arriving, officers learned that Daniel Ramos Morales, 36, had been involved in an argument with his common law wife, which escalated when he drew a Samurai sword and began threatening her mother.

The victims stated that Morales was in the garage when his wife came home that day and grew angry at her, then threw a marker. At some point the wife went into their children’s bedroom at the back of the house, and Morales went into their bedroom and pulled out a Samurai sword and began to threaten his mother-in-law.

Police located the sword and its sheath upon arrival and booked Morales into the county jail for aggravated assault of a family member with a deadly weapon. He has remained in jail since Oct. 1, held in lieu of a $35,000 surety bond.

Fabian Salas

A fight between 40-year-old Fabian Salas and his girlfriend resulted in his arrest on Oct. 1, when Salas shoved his girlfriend’s son, who was attempting to save his mother from assault.

According to a complaint filed with the court, police responded to an apartment in the 200 block of S. Filmore and determined that Salas and his girlfriend had been having an argument when Salas pinned the woman to the floor. When her son, then under the age of 14, attempted to pull Salas off his mother, Salas shoved him into the wall and door jam leading to the kitchen. The child’s back was slightly swollen and red from the attack.

Salas was taken to the Tom Green County Jail and charged with injury to a child, criminal negligence, and was later indicted for injury to a child with reckless bodily injury. The state jail felony has been upgraded to a second-degree felony due to two prior felony convictions.

Skyler Lee Beisner

A 24-year-old man is charged with assault family violence strangulation following a verbal and physical altercation with his live-in girlfriend on Aug. 17.

Court documents state that Skyler Lee Beisner and his girlfriend of 4.5 years were at their residence in the unit block of Dellwood, when the argument broke out. The victim told responding officers that Beisner had grabbed her throat and strangled her, then covered her mouth and squeezed, causing her to bite her lip. She then punched the man in the testicles in order to get away from him, a complaint states.

Beisner admitted to having committed all of the acts his girlfriend portrayed, but stated that after the initial argument, he went outside to avoid becoming physical. He said she then followed him out and continued to provoke him until he strangled her for about five seconds. During the strangulation, she was fighting back and trying to choke him, he said.

His accounts continues to state that he then returned inside and she followed him once more, continually agitating him, until he grabbed her by the face and threw her on the bed. When she got up, he grabbed her throat again and slapped her across the face. He stated that he once again tried to walk away, but his girlfriend continued to follow him, at which point he threw her back on the bed and punched her in the knee about five times. She then punched him in the testicles and ran off, he said.

Beisner was taken into custody following the assault, but posted a $5,000 bond the same day and was released. Assault family violence strangulation is a third-degree felony.

Andrew Scott Perez

On Oct. 19, police were dispatched to a residence in the 1200 block of S. Bryant for a report of a domestic disturbance assault. Upon arriving, a female victim reported that her husband had assaulted her in the night to the extent that she feared making a call for help until he went to shower the next morning.

The victim stated that she and 35-year-old Andrew Scott Perez had been having an argument the previous evening over several issues when he became violent. She told responding officers that he had assaulted her in many ways, including shoving her to the ground, strangulation and displays and physical threats with a knife.

Officers observed several red marks and hemorrhages on her neck, as well as swollen cheeks, consistent with the assault she described.

Perez later admitted to an SAPD detective that the couple had been physically fighting one another, that he had held her down and that he had displayed the knife. He has several previous arrests for family violence and was on parole for the same charge at the time of the offense.

On Oct. 19, he was arrested and booked into the jail for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and assault family violence impeding breath/circulation. He has since been indicted on both counts. The aggravated charge, a second-degree felony, has been enhanced to a first-degree felony. The strangulation charge is a third-degree felony enhanced to a second-degree felony. Perez is still in jail.

Daniel Alcala Cuellar, III

A prisoner in the police department’s custody was being transported to the county jail on Oct. 9 for minor in possession of alcohol, unlawfully carrying a weapon and possession of marijuana, when his unruly actions during transport and booking earned him two additional third-degree felonies.

Daniel Alcala Cuellar, III, 18, was seated in the back of a police transport unit when he spit on the back of Officer Jennifer Kuhlmann’s head.

Kuhlmann called ahead to the jail to request assistance for the aggressive prisoner, and was met by several detention officers in the sally port, including officer Adam Cooper. 

As Cooper escorted Cuellar to the door of the jail, the prisoner began threatening Cooper and other officers present. Cuellar began to aggressively resist and had to be restrained on the ground and moved to a restraint chair. As Cooper secured him in the chair, Cuellar spit at him, causing his saliva to make contact with the officer’s face, eyes and mouth.

Cuellar bonded out five days later, and has since been indicted on two third-degree felony charges of harassment of a public servant. He’s been arrested twice since the incident.

Other Indictments

Among the others indicted were 15 charged with possession of a controlled substance, eight charged with burglary, seven charged with theft, four charged with car theft, three charged with felony DWI and three charged with credit card/debit card abuse.

Another four individuals were indicted on charges of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance from an Oct. 29 DPS drug bust during which meth and heroin were seized.

To view the full indictment list, click here.