A California man accused of assaulting a woman during a cross-country road trip that spiraled across multiple states was charged Monday in Carbon County Circuit Court with felony grand theft. Police say the woman’s belongings were still packed inside the car when Wyoming troopers stopped him on Interstate 80.
The case started about a week ago outside of a McDonald’s in Utah, where police were called after a woman with two black eyes was reportedly pounding on the glass, telling people she had just been thrown from a moving vehicle.
That woman, Tricia Alesna of California told investigators she had been traveling from California to Wisconsin with Enrique Pierre Ballesteros, 61, a man she had previously dated. According to court documents, Alesna agreed to go on the trip because Ballesteros wanted to prove he was “a changed man.”
At first, she said, things were fine.
Then somewhere around Reno, Nevada, “it began to sour.”
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Alesna told police Ballesteros hit her in the head and face while they were staying at a casino hotel there. Later, in Battle Mountain, Nevada, she said the violence continued — leaving her with the first black eye investigators later photographed and documented.
Over the next couple days, the pair stayed at a campground, where Alesna alleged she woke up to Ballesteros having sex with her. The road trip kept rolling east through Nevada and into Utah, but she told police the physical abuse continued the entire way. She also said she tried several times to get away and couldn’t.
Then came the fight in Utah.
Alesna said the two were arguing while the car was moving when Ballesteros allegedly put both hands around her neck and told her: “I was going to marry you but now I’m going to kill you.”
She told police he then forced her out of the moving vehicle.
Spotted Near Rawlins
The same day Utah police interviewed Alesna, a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper spotted a white Chrysler Seabreeze tied to a “Be on the Look Out” (BOLO) alert traveling east on Interstate 80 near Rawlins.
Troopers pulled the vehicle over and arrested Ballesteros.
During interviews with law enforcement, Ballesteros reportedly insisted Alesna should be questioned in front of him before launching into his own version of events.
He claimed Alesna had a history of punching herself and said the trip started unraveling after she bought a bottle of wine at a Nevada gas station.
“From that point on, it just went downhill,” he told investigators.
Ballesteros claimed Alesna became “drunk and violent” after a few sips of wine and said she had been kicking him while he was driving. He told police he “could not handle it no more,” so he dropped her off “somewhere safe.”
He also denied being abusive, telling investigators he is not “an abusive person,” and claimed she had been “hitting herself.”
Before asking for a lawyer, Ballesteros reportedly acknowledged he was already “fighting a case,” but described the allegations against him as fabricated.
Bruises, Phones And Backpacks
According to court records, Alesna later gave investigators a detailed list of belongings she said were still inside the Chrysler Seabreeze.
Police said they recovered items including a powder blue iPhone with a black case, an LG Android phone, a Dyson blow dryer, clippers, a solar generator, backpacks filled with new clothes that still had tags attached, and a wallet covered in butterflies.
Investigators also documented visible injuries, including bruising around Alesna’s eyes, bruises on her back and bruising on her arms.
Ballesteros is charged with felony grand theft, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Despite the allegations of repeated physical abuse detailed in court documents, no charges directly related to domestic violence or assault have been filed against Ballesteros in Carbon County as of Monday afternoon.
One major factor is jurisdiction. Most of the alleged violence described in the affidavit appears to have happened in Nevada and Utah — not Wyoming. Criminal charges generally have to be filed in the state and county where the alleged conduct occurred.
Since Wyoming authorities encountered Ballesteros near Rawlins and recovered property tied to the theft allegation there, Carbon County prosecutors may only currently have a Wyoming-filed theft case.
Another possibility is that investigators or prosecutors in other states are still reviewing evidence before deciding whether to file assault, strangulation, kidnapping or domestic violence-related charges.
It’s also common in interstate cases for the first filed charge to be the clearest or easiest charge supported by immediate evidence while larger investigations continue.
Ballesteros is scheduled to return to Carbon County Circuit Court on May 20 for a preliminary hearing, where a judge will decide whether the case moves forward to District Court.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
