Woman tells story of alleged abuse in Bloomfield – The Durango Herald

Man faces charges after his baby was seriously injured

The man who allegedly slit his infant daughter's throat in a horrific child abuse case in Bloomfield has been released from the San Juan County Detention Center and placed in a transitional living program in Albuquerque.

Joseph Bresch, 38, is charged with two counts of first-degree child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of unlawful confinement and battery against a household member causing is under investigation by the Bloomfield Police Department in 2021.

Special prosecutor JoHanna Cox filed a motion to keep Bresch in jail until his trial, which is set for Sept. 24 in Judge Curtis Gurley's courtroom in Aztec's 11th Judicial District.

“No condition of release can reasonably protect the safety of others or the safety of the community,” Cox wrote in his motion, saying Bresch “has demonstrated that he has a significant violent propensity toward innocent and defenseless civilians. He will not be able to reside safely in the community if he is not detained.”

Bresch's ex-wife and the mother of the abuse victim said she was present at the hearing and told the court she “would rather he stay locked up,” Michelle Bresch said in a June 27 telephone interview with the court. Three-city record.

Despite Michelle Bresch's motion and request, Gurley released Bresch to Diersen Charities Residential Reentry Center in Albuquerque, where he will reside with a GPS bracelet and be under house arrest except during work hours, according to court records.

Bresch was ordered to complete a “community program that provides parenting education and training,” perform 40 hours of community service, participate in mental health evaluations and “have no contact with the alleged victims,” ​​according to court records.

It has provided Michelle Bresch with some protection, but she doesn't believe she or her 2-year-old daughter can be safe without it.

“He instilled this fear in me,” Michelle Bresch said of her tumultuous marriage. “Knives were thrown at me, machetes were thrown at me, guns were pointed at my head. »

Michelle Bresch's relationship with Bresch began when they were both 9 years old and living in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“He was my best friend,” she said, adding that they lost touch when she moved away at age 16.

In 2017, during the mass shooting at Mandalay Bay, they reconnected.

Michelle Bresch learned he had been in and out of prison since he was 16 and had served time for child abuse. However, she said she was “intrigued” and believed his claims of innocence.

Their relationship rekindled and he took her away from his family. He made her move to Farmington, where she didn't know anyone. She was not allowed to leave the house. She had no friends. She had no one except Bresch and his friends.

Michelle Bresch said she made fictitious gun purchases for him and was briefly incarcerated.

She then made changes in her life, changes to protect her children: a 7-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, who allegedly suffered severe abuse at the hands of Bresch, authorities said.

“I have sole custody of my children,” Michelle Bresch said, adding that she received the court documents on June 27.

“It was a long, hard fight. … It took so much to prove that I wasn’t the problem,” she said.

She said abuse took place throughout their relationship, including emotional and physical abuse and sexual assault, and that she blamed him for the death of her unborn child.

Bresch's alleged violent acts against Michelle Bresch and her 2-month-old daughter were detailed in a nine-page arrest warrant affidavit.

The baby was born prematurely and spent two months in the hospital before being discharged from San Juan Regional Medical Center on October 8, 2021.

Michelle Bresch said she was afraid to bring her home and that when the baby did come home, it was only two weeks before the baby was back in the hospital in critical condition, according to the affidavit.

Bloomfield police discovered the abuse on Oct. 24, 2021, when paramedics were called to the Bresch home in the 1100 block of Kathy Lynn. Medics called dispatch to report that the child's injuries were “consistent with child abuse,” the affidavit states.

When the child arrived at the San Juan Regional Medical Center, she was in critical condition.

“Visible” injuries on the infant included a “bruise to the left eye, burst blood vessels in the left eye, a cauliflower ear-like malformation on the left ear, split skin and a laceration at the back of the left ear, blood around the left ear.” mouth and nose, swollen nose and eyes, bruising on left shoulder blade, broken ribs, severe diaper rash and most concerning was a laceration on the front of the neck near the base of the jaw,” the affidavit states.

Michelle Bresch said in the interview that the baby's facial injuries were caused by him “rubbing his goatee on her.”

There was also a 5-day-old slit in the baby's throat, apparently made with a razor blade Bresch kept in his pocket. The cut was so deep that “the underlying tissues and structures of the neck” were visible. It “exposed the tissues of the esophagus and required advanced treatment that only a hospital could provide,” according to the affidavit.

At the time the abuse was reported, Michelle did not tell the police or hospital staff what was happening. She claimed Bresch “was always on the phone,” telling her what to say.

“Everything I said in those police reports were stories I was asked to tell,” she said. “The hardest battle I fought my entire life was proving that I was not a monster. »

Michelle Bresch said she tried to protect the baby by keeping him by her side, but when she was showering or sleeping, she alleges Bresch would pick up the baby and harm her. “I wanted my babies to survive.”

“I was swinging around him. He didn't like me swinging around him,” Michelle Bresch said. “When I asked him for it, he would throw it at me.”

She said she received numerous calls to Bloomfield police, repeatedly tried to leave and that the abuse toward her “got worse and worse” every time she said something.

“No one listens and they always want to blame the victim,” Michell Bresch said, adding that she is now trying to put her life back together.

She is in a new city with a new life and will continue to fight for her children.

She tells victims of abuse: “You have to talk to someone. (…) There is a solution, don't back down.”

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