The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
A Newport Beach man has been charged with felony offenses after he reportedly held his wife against her will while torturing and abusing her using several methods, including waterboarding.
36-year-old Richard David Schlosser and his 65-year-old wife of two months share a home in Newport Beach.
On January 6 around 10:15 a.m. someone notified the authorities and told them that they feared something was wrong with the woman inside the couple’s home. Police dispatched to the location and reported that they had “reason to believe a crime had occurred.”
Officers entered the house and discovered that Schlosser had allegedly been holding his wife hostage and subjecting her to several forms of abuse and torture, and they purported that he was under the influence of narcotics. The woman reported that Schlosser had detained her for 6 hours throughout the night while he crammed a towel into her mouth, cut her body, and beat her with household objects. Authorities also allege that the woman was subject to waterboarding at her husband’s hand.
Waterboarding is a practice that is considered a war crime in the United States. It is described as a form of torture wherein a person is restricted from movement, usually by being tied in place, and a cloth is placed in their mouth while water is poured through the fabric causing the victim to drown slowly.
Schlosser, who is out on $50,000 bail for a different domestic violence charge for which he has entered a plea of not guilty, was taken into custody and charged with torture, corporal injury on a spouse, false imprisonment, and criminal threats. He has entered a plea of not guilty to all of the charges and he remains jailed in lieu of $2,000,000 bail.
Schlosser’s wife petitioned the courts for a restraining order against her husband for the alleged attack in January, but she was denied when she was not present for her scheduled hearing the following month.
Schlosser’s pretrial has been scheduled in August and if he is found guilty of the charges against him he could be sentenced to life in prison.
If you or someone you love is suspected of domestic violence, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.