Man accused of dousing ex with hot oil had aliases

By Mike LaBella
mlabella@eagletribune.com

HAVERHILL -- A Lawrence man who police in Haverhill charged with assaulting his former girlfriend by pouring a one-gallon pitcher of 370-degree frying oil over her head was in this country illegally.

According to court documents, Guatemalan native Oscar Rodas, also known as Jose Garcia Martinez, 23, of Lawrence, has also gone by the names of Samuel Martinez-Baez, Samuel Baez and Oscar Ochoa. He was deported in 2002 and again in 2006 after police in Lawrence arrested him for disorderly conduct and giving a false name.

Rodas had been on the run since Oct. 27 when he dumped the oil on the woman, investigators said. Police said they received a tip Rodas was staying in Yonkers, N.Y., and officers there raided a home and arrested him Wednesday. He was extradited to Haverhill and was arraigned yesterday in Haverhill District Court where he was ordered held without bail and must appear at a dangerousness hearing on Monday.

Prosecutor Christopher Holland said he expects to receive a detainer/notice of action from Immigration ordering deportation or removal of Rodas from the U.S. He said the deportation order will not excuse Rodas from answering the charges against him.

According to police, on Oct. 27, Rodas and his ex-girlfriend, a 32-year-old Lawrence woman, were working a night shift together at the Dunkin' Donuts factory in the Ward Hill Business Park in Haverhill. Police said the attack happened around midnight. According to a police report of the incident, the woman told police she noticed Rodas frying Munchkins while she was ringing up a customer. She said Rodas then took a one-gallon pitcher of hot cooking oil, threw it at her then ran out of the building.

Police said the woman was transported to a Boston hospital for treatment of 2nd degree burns to 35 percent of her body.

"She was hospitalized for over a month and required skin grafts," Holland said.

Police had reviewed a video surveillance tape of the incident which confirmed the attack and the identity of the attacker, he said. He said Rodas and the woman had been in a dating relationship for eight months and had been separated for four months prior to the incident.

"He wanted to get back together with her," he said.

Police Detective John Moses, who investigated the incident, said the victim had started seeing someone else and Rodas was upset about it.

The victim told police that in the days prior to the attack, Rodas had been calling her on the phone and harassing her.

Rodas was charged with mayhem and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (hot oil). The mayhem charge is a felony and can carry a prison term of 20 years.

Moses said a special fugitive tracking team from the Yonkers area had received word from Haverhill police about Rodas' location and used a warrant to arrest him.

Moses called the attack one of the most horrific things he's seen in his 20 years on the force.

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