Man Gets 60 Years for Kidnapping Woman, Carving Into Her Leg

The Collin County, Texas, District Attorney's Office says a man is headed to prison for 60 years for kidnapping and beating a woman before carving his name into her leg.

Prosecutors said Joseph Julian Guerra, 28, brutally assaulted a woman working for him as a prostitute after she said someone robbed her of money he felt was owed to him.

According to the district attorney's office, police were called to Guerra's neighborhood in Allen on July 5, 2012, after the woman escaped his custody and sought help from a neighbor.

When police arrived they found the woman on a curb, naked from the waist down and bleeding from the face and legs after having been beaten and restrained with duct tape, the district attorney said.

After learning of the robbery, the district attorney said Guerra bound and attacked the woman for several hours.

"To teach the woman a lesson, Guerra bound her hands and feet with duct tape and wrapped the tape around her head multiple times and across her mouth. He then punched, kicked, and kneed her in the body and face. Guerra followed this by grabbing a skillet and striking the woman multiple times in the head, knocking out one of her front teeth," the district attorney's office said in a news release Friday. "Guerra also cut off the woman’s pants and threatened to use his knife to rape her. Instead, he took the knife and slashed her legs finally carving his nickname, 'ACE,' into the sides of both of her thighs."

According to the district attorney, Guerra told the woman he carved his name into her so that she would "always remember him."

Eventually, Guerra fell asleep and the woman was able to escape his home.  The woman ran to a neighbor who, frightened by her bloody appearance, refused to let her into their home but did call 911.

After finding the woman, police entered Guerra's home and found him sleeping soundly next to his 1-year-old daughter, the district attorney's office said.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Cynthia Walker and Brandon Wonnacott and they were assisted by District Attorney Investigator Dale Dowdy. The case was investigated by Allen Police Detective Tim Wasden. State District Judge Scott Becker presided over the case.

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