MILFORD, DELAWARE (6/21/2016) A Milford man has been charged with raping and choking a 34-year-old woman, city police reported this morning.
On the morning of June 10, Jorge De La Cruz, 46, attempted to hit the woman with an iron during an argument.
During another argument that night, police said, De La Cruz pushed the woman out of a chair, knocking her to the floor.
He then grabbed a knife, Sgt. Dwight Young said, and forced the woman into the bathroom, not allowing her to leave and threatening to kill her and family members.
“One of the two children, that were in the residence during the incident, attempted to make contact with the female victim through the bathroom door. Cruz then exited the bathroom and took the child to bed. Cruz later came back to the bathroom, grabbed the female victim around her neck and began to strangle her,” Young said.
He said Cruz stopped when a second child came near the bathroom door.
“Hours later, on the morning of 6/11/16, Cruz forced the female victim to perform sex acts. Cruz later forcefully sexually assaulted the female victim,” Young said.
De La Cruz was charged with two counts of first-degree rape, possession of a weapon during commission of a felony, two counts of aggravated menacing, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, strangulation, third-degree assault, terroristic threatening, offensive touching and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
De La Cruz was being held at Sussex Correctional Institution near Georgetown in lieu of $29,400 secured bond.
The woman was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries and released, Young said.