CAGUAS – Former boxer Juan Manuel “Juanma” López Rivera was charged this afternoon with seven counts of domestic violence against his ex-partner Andrea Ojeda Cruz, for events that occurred several months ago, most recently in July, but which were known yesterday when the victim posted on social media photos with his face full of bruises and a video recorded by the boxer threatening and assaulting him.
Juanma López, who was arrested late Tuesday afternoon when he was accompanied by his lawyer to the offices of the Caguas Criminal Investigation Center (CIC), spent the night in a cell and mid-afternoon today was brought before Judge Isander Rivera.
The magistrate determined cause for arrest on seven charges and pointed to a bail of $ 175 thousand, $ 25,000 per charge.
The Justice Department reported that the boxer was released on bail and will have to remain under house arrest with an electronic shackle under the Office of Pre-Trial Services ’surveillance program. He cannot drink alcohol or use drugs, will be subjected to doping tests and is forbidden to approach or contact his ex-partner.
The preliminary hearing was scheduled for September 21.
The unit has reported prior to the appearance of the world champion before the judge, that the charges to be submitted were for four incidents of gender violence against Andrea Ojeda Cruz.
Ex-boxer Juan Manuel López Rivera was placed under house arrest.
The former champion’s lawyer, Jaume Barceló Sosa, had said that as part of his strategy, he would request that the bail be affordable so that he could continue with the defense process.
“The next thing is to get a bail, to go home and prepare for the event,” he argued before heading to court in Caguas.
López, 38 years old and a resident of Camí La Represa, in the Cayaguas neighborhood of Sant Llorenç, had gone to the area command accompanied by his lawyer.
“We have the faith that he can come out, first to deal with his personal condition, and then to (face) the charges that need to be filed,” the graduate had said in an interview with the “Day to Day” program.
Barceló Sosa recalled that his client is sheltered by the “presumption of innocence”, while assuring that he is unaware of all the evidence that the Public Prosecutor’s Office will present to the judge.
“We do not know the veracity of the evidence, we do not know its entirety,” added the lawyer, who said he has been in communication with relatives of the former boxing champion.
López arrived at the command last night several hours after photographs and videos of his ex-partner Andrea Ojeda Cruz began to circulate, with bruises on his face.
Prosecutor Jaume Perea Mercat, from the Caguas District Prosecutor’s Office, interviewed Ojeda Creu on Tuesday night when the young woman went to the Police Command to file a complaint.
The investigation continued on Wednesday morning and the prosecutor determined file seven charges against the boxer for physical and psychological abuse, through threat and damage to property, in violation of Articles 3.1 and 3.3 of Law 54 of August 15, 1989, known as the Law for the Prevention and Intervention with Domestic Violence.
The young woman accompanied her statements with some photos in which she appears with blows in her eyes as a result of alleged beatings by the boxer.
The young woman said on social media that she was beaten by the former world champion.
“Jo I left Juanma because he is an abusive man. He is an abuser, he is a man who has problems with alcoholism. When Juanma drinks, she transforms into a man she is not. He is a man who has problems, who makes films in the head of insecurity, “said” La Peki “, as Ojeda Cruz is called on social media.
The young woman, who this morning had more than 142,000 followers on Instagram, accompanied her statements with some photos in which she appears with blows in her eyes as a result of the alleged beatings that the boxer would have given her.
The photo montage includes the statement: “Here they have my beautiful relationship, and the beautiful makeup that Juan Manuel López Rivera, alias Juama, the champion, did for me.”
“I kept quiet all the time. I went to the barracks many times and I cried and cried and he did not denounce it thinking of his children, In not doing him any public harm and in what came next, but it was over. I got tired, “he said.
The young woman also posted in a story on her Instagram profile a video allegedly recorded by Lopez in which the ex-boxer lost control, insulted her and tried to grab her and assault her.
The video includes the phrase “here they have their champion. If I wake up tomorrow, Juan Manuel López Rivera will kill me”.
“I’ve been thinking for a long time if I was going to do this. I’m shaking. I need to do it to bring the message that I’m real and that women are valued. I want women who are going through something (similar) not to stay. shut up and let them know they are not alone, ”he added.
Meanwhile, last night the young woman expressed in her networks that “it has been a hard day because this process is hurting me a lot, I suffer from it and I don’t enjoy it … But I just have to say thank you for your immense support for those people who respect and do not make fun of such situations. “
The young woman had gone to the area command an hour before the boxer arrived and was interviewed by officers from the Domestic Violence Division of the CIC.
Officers consulted the case with prosecutor Jaime Perea, who interviewed Andrea Ojeda Cruz i he instructed Lopez to remain in custody.
Lopez had previously been charged with domestic violence. In 2015, her then-teammate, Geraldine Crespo, sued in San Juan for suffering facial trauma from a blow inflicted by the former world champion amid a jealousy attack.