Police arrested a man Monday at BWI Airport – on his way back to Texas – after he traveled cross country to beat a woman in West Hempfield Township.
West Hempfield Township police charged 35-year-old Tomas Martinez-Martinez with felony counts of strangulation and intimidating a witness, and related misdemeanors.
West Hempfield Township police investigated and coordinated the arrest effort which resulted in Martinez-Martinez’s capture Monday afternoon at BWI.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the efforts.
Martinez-Martinez is in Arundel County, Md. and will be extradited back to Lancaster County to face the charges.
He is presumed innocent.
Martinez-Martinez and the woman had been in a relationship in Texas prior to the woman coming to Lancaster County to get away from him and be with family.
Martinez-Martinez followed the woman and beat her at a Quarry Road home. Martinez-Martinez repeatedly punched the woman and strangled her, also threatening to kill her children.
Before fleeing the home, Martinez-Martinez broke the woman’s cellphone so she could not call police.
Police responded by filing charges and obtaining an arrest warrant, catching Martinez-Martinez as he tried to board a plane.
Martinez-Martinez is also charged with misdemeanor simple assault and terroristic threats.
(Stock photo courtesy of BWI.)
MEDIA CONTACT: Brett A. Hambright, 717-295-2041; bhambright@co.lancaster.pa.us; Twitter: @BrettHambright