Kidnapping, domestic abuse charges filed against Oxford man

OXFORD - An Oxford man who was the subject of an investigation into an alleged snowmobile crash now faces kidnapping and domestic abuse charges.

Authorities said Friday the snowmobile crash story was just a ruse to explain the injuries a woman allegedly suffered at the hands of 27-year-old Jonathan Walte.

'There was no snowmobile crash, no car crash,” Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said. 'It was just a very bad domestic abuse case.”

According to the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to 230 Summit St. in Oxford on Feb. 13 after Walte called 911 and said he and a woman had been in a snowmobile crash. Walte told deputies the crash happened the night before, but he couldn't say exactly where it occurred or who owned the snowmobile.

Walte and the woman were taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics emergency room for treatment. However, upon his release from this hospital, Walte was arrested on a warrant out of Linn County for failure to appear on a possession of a controlled substance charge.

According to Johnson County Sheriff's Office criminal complaints, when deputies investigated the alleged snowmobile crash and conducted follow-up interviews, the woman told them that Walte had held her against her will and assaulted her in their home. The woman suffered bruises, cuts and abrasions during the assault, the complaints state.

Walte also damaged property belonging to the woman, police said.

Walte has been arrested and faces charges of third-degree kidnapping, a Class C felony; domestic abuse while impeding the normal breathing of another, a Class D felony; and fourth-degree criminal mischief, a serious misdemeanor.