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SOUTH JORDAN — A man who barricaded himself in his girlfriend's South Jordan home Saturday morning has been taken into custody.
South Jordan police received a phone call around 10:30 a.m. from a woman who said her boyfriend, Ruben Chacon, 38, showed up at her house Friday night, assaulted her, held her captive and broke her cell phone, said South Jordan Police Lt. Matt Pennington.
South Jordan police went out around 11 a.m. and tried to make contact with the man, but he barricaded himself inside the home, located near the corner of 10400 South and 2950 West, Pennington said.
The South Valley SWAT team was called to the house around 1 p.m. The man refused to come out of the home or answer negotiators, according to Pennington. After several hours, SWAT team members were able to locate Chacon in the house's attic and he was taken into custody.
The victim did get away from Chacon and was injured, Pennington said, but not critically or seriously. According to a probable cause statement, Chacon has assaulted the victim many times over the past 10 years during their on-and-off relationship, but the assaults grew more violent in past weeks.
The woman told police Chacon had threatened to kill her before. Police warned her his jealous, controlling and stalking behaviors were "large risk factors" for escalation in the future, the statement said.
Police found bruises and lumps on the woman's head, chest and arms, according to the statement.
There was "convincing evidence" Chacon "would constitute a substantial danger to an alleged victim of domestic violence if released on bail," the statement said.
South Jordan Parkway was closed Saturday between 3200 West and 2700 West but is now open.
Chacon was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of domestic aggravated assault, domestic assault, unlawful detention, domestic criminal mischief and interruption of a communication device.
Contributing: Alexis Pineiro, KSL
Domestic violence resources
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
- Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
- YWCA Women in Jeopardy program: 801-537-8600
- Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
