A Stayton man accused of several domestic violence-related charges in Albany was arrested in Medford in a multiagency effort that included the U.S. Marshals Service.
The death of an Albany toddler who suffered “suspicious injuries” sparked an Albany police investigation into 23-year-old Alexzander Israel Bentley-Lopez, the boyfriend of the boy’s mother.
Bentley-Lopez is charged in Linn County with felony counts of first-degree kidnapping, coercion and fourth-degree assault. He has not been charged with the child’s death. He was booked into Jackson County Jail to await transfer to Linn County.
The boy’s mother told police she met Bentley-Lopez on the dating app Tinder in August, and he had been staying at her apartment after spending a night there, according to an affidavit.
She alleged the physical abuse — pulling her hair, slapping her face, punching and kicking her — began after around two weeks into the relationship and typically happened in front of her children.
She told police Bentley-Lopez would punch and kick her all over her body, pulling up her sweatshirt sleeves to reveal extensive bruising covering both of her arms, the affidavit states.
She said he would force her to wear long sleeves and pants in public to conceal her bruises.
“Alexzander would assault her in front of (the children) so they could see ‘this is what you do when bitches don’t do what they’re supposed to,’ and he was teaching them how to be real men,” the affidavit alleges.
Albany police responded to Albany General Hospital around 5:30 a.m. Oct. 20 to investigate after a 2-year-old boy named Kyrie was admitted with suspicious injuries.
While Kyrie’s mother was speaking with a detective, they heard emergency department staff call Code Blue, signaling the need for additional help to tend to a cardiac arrest.
Kyrie did not regain his heartbeat and was pronounced dead around 8 a.m.
Two days before, Kyrie’s mother noticed a mark on his forehead. When she asked Bentley-Lopez about it, he reportedly claimed the boy fell and hit his head, according to the affidavit, which states she didn’t ask more about it because she feared she “didn’t want to get beat.”
Before they left the hospital, Kyrie’s brother was reportedly admitted to the emergency department for evaluation of visible injuries.
The mother alleged Bentley-Lopez threatened to assault the boys on more than one occasion when they would approach as she was being attacked, saying they would usually hide around the corner and cry as beatings occurred.
Asked what started the cycle of abuse, she said she was snooping through his cellphone history and found Bentley-Lopez was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend. She reported that when she confronted him over the rekindled relationship, the back-and-forth escalated from arguments to physical attacks.
She also alleged that once their relationship turned physically abusive, Bentley-Lopez took control of her cellphone access, breaking her phones numerous times and changing her passwords, so she couldn't use any of her accounts without his permission. When she left her apartment, he would use her phone to track her location, she alleged.
“He would tell her that his friends are also watching her when she goes out,” the affidavit states.
Bentley-Lopez would hold her captive in her home, she alleged, telling police he reversed the doorknob on her bedroom so it could be locked from the outside, tightening the screws to prevent her from picking the lock.
So, why not report the abuse? She claimed Bentley-Lopez threatened to report her to the Department of Human Services for “bad parenting,” and alleged he would stage videos that made it appear she was neglecting her children, using the videos as blackmail.
In one incident she described to police, Bentley-Lopez left her and the kids in his car while he was playing video poker at Ding How Buffet & Grill, and she discovered a new Instagram account on her phone with one friend — a woman in Albany.
When she confronted Bentley-Lopez about it, an argument ensued, and he told her to get her kids and leave but allegedly would not allow the children to be taken from the car. Fearing he would take off with them, she got back in, and was allegedly punched as they drove around.
He went as far as to enlist an ex-girlfriend of his to “kick her ass,” the girlfriend alleged, but the woman backed out after agreeing to the fight.
In another incident, she alleged Bentley-Lopez slapped her across the face so hard it ruptured her left ear drum, providing police with medical paperwork to support her claim.
Bentley-Lopez has two open Benton County cases from July, one alleging trespassing, attempted trespassing and meth possession, and the other alleging unlawful entry of a motor vehicle.
Court records show he was previously convicted of meth possession, harassment, assault, criminal mischief, DUII and reckless driving.
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