A warrant was issued for Nicholas Wentz by Judge William Furse on Thursday morning after Wentz failed to appear for his hearing in District Court in Cortez.
Wentz was set to appear in the 22nd Judicial District for appearance on bond and a plea hearing. He is also scheduled to appear in county court with Judge Ian MacLaren for multiple plea hearings, pretrial conference and two hearings to ensure compliance with a protection order's requirement to relinquish firearms on Thursday, March 20.
After failing to appear for his hearing, Assistant District Attorney Justin Pierce requested that Furse issue a warrant. Pierce shared that the alleged victim’s mother had sent a letter with concerns to the district attorney’s office prior to the hearing.
In the letter, the victim’s mother alleged that Wentz had repeatedly violated the court-ordered protection order and threatened self-harm “with a shotgun and razor blades,” Pierce said.
Because of the letter, Pierce noted that it was incredibly concerning that Wentz failed to appear the morning the letter arrived.
Mallory Taub, Wentz’s representation, said she didn’t know why he hadn’t appeared for his hearing.
After Furse issued the warrant, he also issued a cash surety bond for $7,500.
Furse asked if there had been any sobriety monitoring results for Wentz since January, to which it was confirmed there had been none.
During his January hearing, the alleged victim in the case requested that the protection order between her and Wentz be modified, but her request was denied by MacLaren because of safety concerns.
One of the reasons for not modifying the protection order was attributed to an alleged assault that had taken place between Wentz and the victim in January.
Wentz was also arrested in October on suspicion of violating a protection order, followed by an incident in December, when Wentz was arrested on suspicion of violating a protection order, harassment, domestic violence, resisting arrest and obstructing a peace officer.
According to the protection order, Wentz is to stay at least 100 yards from the victim and her home at all times. The victim shared with police that she and Wentz had previously dated for about eight months, but have not dated for over a year now.
In January, Wentz was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. This incident involved Wentz grabbing the alleged victim’s neck and preventing her from breathing for “30 seconds” after he refused to leave her home and she attempted to call 911, according to the police report obtained by The Journal.
The police report also shared that Wentz reportedly told the victim that he would “kill all police, and they will kill me.”
