Portales man arrested after domestic dispute

A 28-year-old Portales man is charged with beating a household member and preventing her from calling for help or leaving their house.

Damon Griffith is charged with false imprisonment, a fourth-degree felony, and battery on a household member and interference with communications, both misdemeanors.

According to Portales Police reports:

• About 11:30 p.m. Thursday, officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 300 block of West University Drive.

• As the first officer approached the residence, she heard a woman crying and a man yelling.

• The officer looked through the bedroom window and saw Griffith preventing a woman from leaving the room.

• Officers separated the two and spoke to them.

• The woman said the man broke her phone when she tried to call her mother to pick up her and her children, ages 4 and 8. She said they slapped each other and the man choked her and tried to set the house on fire.

• Griffith said he had been smashing cell phones and may have smashed them both. He denied slapping the woman and said he held her from behind when she tried to slap him.

• Officers found a broken cell phone on the front porch.

• The kitchen sink was full of dirty dishes, some of which were accumulating mold, and the floor around the stove was slippery with grease. Clothing was scattered around the house, and there was dog feces in every room. Officers found a pellet gun on the floor.

• According to Roosevelt County Detention Center, Griffith remained incarcerated without bond Friday afternoon.