A 36-year-old contract employee working in Grand Teton National Park is accused of choking out his girlfriend after an argument about breaking her necklace. She caught the incident on video.
Jose G. Ingellis Benitez faces one count of assault by strangulation, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
The investigation started Monday when Erik Evertt, human resources manager at Signal Mountain Lodge, contacted Grand Teton National Park authorities to report a domestic abuse incident, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
A female employee of park concessionaire Aramark had told the HR manager that her boyfriend, Benitez, strangled her the night before. She showed Evertt a video of the incident, the document says.
A National Park Service special agent reviewed the video, which “clearly shows Jose reach around (his girlfriend’s shoulder, grab her neck from the front with one hand while the other hand is behind her head,” says the affidavit.
He then squeezes her neck, causing her face to turn red while she gasps for air, and he says, “you understand me. Do you understand?” the affidavit relates from the video.
The video also reportedly shows her falling to the ground.
Her Interview
NPS Law Enforcement Agent Anneliese Dershem noticed during a Monday interview that the woman’s neck bore a red scratch mark, and her neck and jaw were red, the document says.
The woman confirmed that she’s been dating Benitez for 14 months and lives with him in an employee dorm of the Signal Mountain Lodge, the affidavit says.
She said she started the recording at about 11 p.m. Aug. 4 while she was in the bathroom, confronting Benitez about breaking her new antler necklace.
When he choked her, her vision went black and she woke on the floor, the woman reportedly said.
“(She) became visibly emotional and her whole body was trembling while watching the video,” Dershem wrote in the affidavit.
The woman said Benitez had “choked” her and threatened to kill her on previous occasions while living in Grand Teton and Big Bend national parks.
The Aramark manager at Signal Mountain Lodge did not respond to a Thursday email and voicemail from Cowboy State Daily by publication time.
His Interview
Benitez came to an office at the lodge for his own interview Monday, where he denied knowing about a domestic disturbance from the night prior, the affidavit says.
An investigator showed him the video, the document indicates.
After watching it, he said he knew of three incidents where he “choked out” his girlfriend — twice in Grand Teton and once in Big Bend National Park in Texas, reportedly.
He watched the video again.
Then he said, “I believe you guys, that’s me in the video,” though he referenced having memory issues from getting “black-out drunk” routinely, the document says.
The affidavit says he thinks his violence toward his girlfriend stems from “jealousy and resentment.”
It Happens
There’s no particular culture of violence among concessionaire workers, but they can get a little cabin fever from living and working together in relatively isolated areas for whole seasons, said Greg Jackson, former deputy chief of the NPS division of law enforcement, security and emergency services.
Jackson now runs NPS Park Ranger News.
“Somewhat, it’s like working on a submarine together, or a ship in close quarters,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
Multiple concessionaire workers working in Wyoming’s national parks have been charged with crimes this year, including a young woman who allegedly wrestled a park ranger and grabbed his duty belt, a young man who had abused her, and a man who made mass shooting threats one day after a shootout in Yellowstone National Park
On July 4, Yellowstone-based Xanterra concessionaire worker Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner threatened to shoot people, then shot a park ranger and was shot to death himself, according to Yellowstone authorities.
Jackson said concessionaire workers have few opportunities to get away from their work environments. In years when the companies have a hard time finding help, the seasonal staff looks more eclectic as well.
But he discouraged broad-brushing concessionaire workers for the crimes of a few, and said he’s maintained 40-year friendships with some of the workers he knew during his NPS career.
“Seasonal resort help — whether it’s in a park or a ski resort or anything — results in people coming together,” said Jackson. “And sometimes it’s a good mix and sometimes it’s not.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
