Man arrested for threatening with knife allegedly tried to intimidate victim on the phone from jail

Published at 8:32 am, May 2, 2022 | Updated at 9:19 am, May 2, 2022

Andrea Olson, EastIdahoNews.com

IDAHO FALLS — A 25-year-old man who was arrested for aggravated assault earlier this month after allegedly threatening his girlfriend with a knife, has had a new charge filed against him.

Kristian J. Lopez is now charged with a felony for intimidating, threatening and harassing his girlfriend after he reportedly called her from jail to get her to recant her statements.

Lopez was originally arrested on April 9 after Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Kit Lane just before noon after receiving a report of two people, a male and female, causing a disturbance in the street.

Witnesses had reported that Lopez had grabbed his girlfriend and was yelling when he pulled out a knife, pointing it toward her. She was heard saying, “You’re not going to stab me,” and Lopez was heard threatening to beat her.

During the arrest, Lopez told deputies that he and his girlfriend were just fighting while walking down the road to their residence.

According to court documents from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, the day after Lopez was arrested for the incident, Lopez video chatted with his girlfriend from jail and told her, “Get me out, get me home, get the charges dropped against me.”

In another video chat a few days later, Lopez told the victim, “You need to go to court and say this, you can do that on your own free will, you can do whatever you want. I’m not telling you that you have to do or say anything, I’m just letting you know.”

Lopez was smiling and laughing during that comment, according to court documents after a deputy reviewed the video chat.

The victim states, “I just go in there and say that I lied?”

Lopez then says, “You can do whatever you want on your own free will.”

He also sent a message to her and called her a racial slur and said that she canceled visits with him and stopped answering his calls.

“You need to give me your actual number and you need to actually be about me and our future and fix everything that’s wrong… I just wanna go (expletive) home come take me home,” part of the message read.

He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 6 at 1 p.m. in Bonneville County Magistrate Court.

Lopez is no stranger to jail. He has a lengthy criminal history and is known for starting a devastating fire that burned more than 50,000 acres in Bonneville County back in 2016. The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said the Henry’s Creek Fire ignited because Lopez was lighting bottle rockets in the area of Henry Creek and Taylor Mountain roads with friends.

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