An Odessa man is facing an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge after a 16-year-old boy accused him of beating him so severely with a shotgun that it broke the butt of the gun.
According to an Odessa Police Department report, a woman called the police department on June 5 after the boy came to visit her for the summer and she noticed he was malnourished and had several scars on his face. The woman told police the teenager told her he’d been physically abused by John Adam Marcantel, 39, numerous times the month prior.
The teen told a forensic interviewer a drunken Marcantel would beat him often and constantly hit him in the head. According to the report, the boy said on one occasion, Marcantel ordered him to open his mouth so he could put the barrel of a shotgun inside it and when he refused, Marcantel struck him with the butt of the gun above his right eye, lacerating the skin and leaving a scar. The boy claimed Marcantel continued to hit his arms, chest and right knee with the gun, causing the butt of the shotgun to break, the report stated.
Doctors found numerous scars on the boy’s face and head consistent with his story, according to the report.
During a search of Marcantel’s apartment on Dorado Drive on Wednesday, officers found a shotgun with a broken butt, the report stated.
Marcantel was booked into the Ector County jail Wednesday and released Thursday after posting a $40,000 surety bond. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a Class 2 felony punishable by a prison sentence of two to 20 years.
