Victim, suspect wind up in same MDC van

Posted at: 09/18/2009 8:23 PM | Updated at: 09/18/2009 8:25 PM
By: Eric Kahnert, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

The conversation that took place in that van led to a violent beating back at the jail.

The Metropolitan Department of Corrections system is filled with a lot of suspects and convicted criminals, but sometimes the inmates are also victims of other crimes.

Chris Brown, who was arrested for domestic violence, is also the victim and/or witness in two other crimes involving suspect Jose Baca, according to investigators.

Brown filed a restraining order and felony kidnapping charges against Baca.

Last month, the two men were taken to court for the restraining order hearing.

Problem is, the two were both brought to the hearing in the same transport van.

The conversation, according to Brown, was beyond uncomfortable.

In fact, Brown tells investigators that Baca and another man in the van threatened him, saying he should drop the restraining order and, "he should not testify," Brown said.

Brown told investigators he was worried that Baca and the other man, "would seriously harm him" if he didn't follow their demands.

Brown dropped the charges in court. Brown says Robert Lopez and Steven Armijo, "called him a 'snitch' as they were attacking him.

After the alleged beating, Brown says, "they told him to shower, clean himself up, and stay in his cell until he healed."

Brown says when he went to the showers, another man who knew Baca also started to attack him.

A corrections officer found out what happened and Brown was eventually placed into the segregation unit at the county jail.

The jail's spokesperson did not return several messages Friday asking how a suspect and the victim in the same crime could be transported together in the same van.

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