WORTHINGTON — Two Worthington men were charged this week with matching counts of felony-level assault with a dangerous weapon and threats of violence, following an alleged incident at a Worthington hotel on Feb. 27. The two men, Uriel Ivan Rodriguez, 23, and Sander Dagoberto Diaz-Martinez, 22, are also charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor offense.
Worthington Police officers responded to a local hotel after receiving reports of a disturbance from a caller who was on the line with dispatch. Officers were advised by dispatch that two males were yelling and running around the hallways and threatening the caller with a baseball bat. The caller had barricaded herself in the office, and the two men were striking the door with the bat.
Upon arriving at the scene, one officer approached the second floor and was met by the 911 caller. The caller stated the men had left the area, and a worker at the hotel said the two men had run out the back entrance. The officer observed a white and pink baseball bat laying on the ground near the office door and picked it up so no one could gain control of it again. He then radioed other officers that the men had left the second floor and gone in an unknown direction.
The officer went through the back exit and was looking along the south side of the building when the other officer advised he had two men detained in the font hotel parking lot. He had entered the parking lot and seen the rear tail lights flash on a red vehicle. The officer turned on the overhead emergency lights and approached the vehicle, identifying the driver as Rodriguez, and Diaz-Martinez in the passenger seat.
As the driver’s side door opened, the vehicle alarm began to sound. Martinez had the keys for the vehicle so the officer took possession of them and turned the alarm off. The officer asked both males to exit the vehicle and noted that both Martinez and Rodriguez smelled strongly of alcohol.
ADVERTISEMENT
The first officer confirmed the identity of the men with the 911 caller, whose description of the men who had attempted to harm her matched the appearance of the men the second officer had detained. The caller stated she had heard someone banging carts together in the laundry room next to her unit and stepped out to find the two men. The caller told them they need to be quiet and return to their room or she would call the cops. The caller noted that the men had already been escorted to their rooms once that night.
The caller told Rodriguez and Diaz-Martinez that she'd had enough and was going to call the cops, at which point, the men reportedly stated they were going to beat her up. The caller had brought a baseball bat with her for protection, which according to the report Rodriguez grabbed from her hands.
The caller then ran back to the office and locked herself in, yelling for Rodriguez and Diaz-Martinez to stop, as they were hitting the door with the bat. Both men reportedly yelled obscenities through the door and threatened to kill the caller, loud enough to wake up other guests at the hotel. The caller held the door closed until the police showed up, at which point Rodriguez and Diaz-Martinez allegedly ran off.
The two men were arrested, and one of the officers took the baseball bat as evidence, observing that it was bent, with the end partially caved in and the end cap broken off. After booking, one officer returned to the hotel and spoke with an employee who had witnessed the events, and confirmed that Rodriguez and Diaz-Martinez had chased the caller with the bat, yelled at her, and hit the door after she barricaded herself in the office, though the witness was unable to say for certain what the men had said.
If convicted, Rodriguez and Diaz-Martinez face a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and/or a $14,000 fine for the assault charge, and a potential five years and/or a $10,000 fine for the threats of violence charge. The disorderly conduct charge carries a penalty of 90 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine. Both men are set to make their initial court appearances on March 14.
