An Odessa couple was arrested Monday on a felony charge after authorities said they tried to prevent the woman’s daughter from being arrested on an aggravated assault charge.
According to Ector County Sheriff’s Office reports, a special agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety went to Leticia Medina’s home on East 12th Street Nov. 3 hoping to arrest her daughter, Nohemi Lozano Medina, 37, on two outstanding warrants. One of the warrants was issued after Leticia Medina’s fiancè, Mario Rodriguez, told authorities in June Nohemi Medina had punched, slapped and tried to stab him. The other warrant was for a parole violation.
Leticia Medina, 55, told the special agent her daughter had fled to California and no longer had a phone. She also promised to call him if she heard from her daughter, the report stated.
The special agent and members of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force set up surveillance at the house and four days later watched Nohemi Medina leave the house and come back, according to the report. After they breached the front door, the task force members realized it had been upgraded and reinforced, the report stated.
Leticia Medina and Rodriguez, 47, also refused to tell the task force members if anyone else was inside the house, according to the report.
Task force members found Nohemi Medina hiding in a closet covered up with clothes, bedding and bags she couldn’t have placed on top of herself, the report stated.
”Due to the amount of time team members required to breach the front door and the way Nohemi Medina was hidden,” the original special agent believes she had help hiding from law enforcement.
Rodriguez and Leticia Medina were both arrested on suspicion of hindering apprehension or prosecution, a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison.
Leticia Medina and Rodriguez remain in the Ector County jail on $10,000 surety bonds.
Nohemi Medina remains in the jail on a $40,000 surety bond and on the parole violation charge.
