A man accused of beating, biting and sexually assaulting a woman he was living with in Simms, Texas, pleaded not guilty Monday at a hearing in Bowie County.
Jonathan Keith Gressman, 32, appeared before 202nd District Judge John Tidwell for arraignment on a charge of aggravated sexual assault with a deadly weapon with Shoaib Daredia of the Bowie County Public Defenders Office.
Gressman was indicted in August on a charge of assault, which allegedly occurred in July. Members of the Naples, Texas, Police Department contacted the Bowie County Sheriff's Office about a woman hospitalized in Mount Pleasant, according to a probable cause affidavit used to create the following account.
BCSO Lt. George Huggins traveled to Mount Pleasant and interviewed the woman. She alleged Gressman, her live-in-boyfriend at the time, was drinking July 18 when he became upset that she did not want to be intimate with him at their home on U.S. Highway 67 in Simms. The woman claimed Gressman struck her with the metal part of a cane and choked her.
The woman reported that she was able to get away from Gressman some time after dark and ran from the couple's home. Gressman allegedly followed her in his car, found her hiding in a ditch and forced her into his car. Inside the car, Gressman allegedly bit the woman's nose and drove her back to the house.
Back at the residence, Gressman allegedly continued to beat her with a cane and bit her left breast. The woman said Gressman pulled a recessed knife from the cane and held it to her head, threatening to stab her with it if she refused to perform a sex act. The woman said Gressman allegedly told her to "call him daddy and say yes sir" during the assault.
The woman waited until Gressman fell asleep and fled to her mother's home in Naples, where she called 911.
Huggins observed bruising on the woman's arms and neck, a bite mark and blood on her nose, blood around her right ear and swelling and redness around her eyes.
Photographs of the woman's injuries were taken by a Naples officer who provided copies to Huggins.
Tidwell scheduled Gressman to return to court next month for a pretrial hearing. He faces five to 99 years or life in prison, if convicted. Gressman is currently being held in the Bowie County jail.