Father accused of throwing chile powder onto teen
Girl said she was doing homework when Edgewood man told her to wash dishes
An Edgewood man was arrested Tuesday on a felony charge of child abuse after his teenage daughter told sheriff ’s deputies that he had forced her against a wall and threw red chile powder in her face.
A Santa Fe County sheriff ’s deputy wrote in a statement of probable cause that she arrived at the family’s home around 6 p.m. Tuesday and found the daughter in distress. The girl was crying and still had chile on her face, the statement says.
The girl told the deputy that when she got home from school, she began doing her homework. Her father, Daniel Nieto, told her to do the dishes instead, the statement says, but she declined, saying she had to complete her homework. That’s when Nieto threw the chile powder, the girl said.
She went outside, and Nieto followed her, then grabbed her and forced her back inside the home, where he threw her against the kitchen wall, the deputy’s statement says. The girl’s great-aunt called 911.
Nieto, 37, “could not provide a good explanation” about why his daughter was upset and covered in chile powder, the deputy wrote.
Nieto was booked into the Santa Fe County jail on a
charge of child abuse not resulting in death or great bodily harm, a third-degree felony, as well as a petty misdemeanor charge of battery.
Prosecutors in 2013 dropped two misdemeanor charges against Nieto of battery against a household member and criminal damage to property of a household member worth less than $1,000, as well as a petty misdemeanor charge of assault against a household member, according to court records. Nieto had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Santa Fe County Magistrate Donita Sena set a $3,500 unsecured appearance bond for Nieto and ordered him released on electronic monitoring. She also said he that can have no contact with his daughter until the criminal case has been resolved.
According to the jail’s website, Nieto was still being held Wednesday evening.