Man accused of assault cuts into mattress looking for girlfriend’s lover

A Maricopa man has been arrested for assault and criminal damage spawning from an alleged domestic violence incident on Aug. 24, during which he reportedly cut open a mattress looking for his girlfriend’s supposed lover.

Maricopa Police Department arrested Andres Lasa, 41, around 5:30 a.m. after his live-in girlfriend called police when he allegedly became violent and began accusing her of cheating on him, an MPD report says.

Lasa’s girlfriend said she was awoken in the early morning hours by Lasa when he allegedly began accusing her of infidelity, according to the report. After waking her and arguing while she lay in bed, Lasa reportedly lifted the mattress throwing his girlfriend from the bed causing her to hit the wall.

According to the report, his girlfriend claimed Lasa hit her several times in the face, “once with a closed fist, and several times with open-hand slaps.”

Lasa then allegedly started “cutting into the mattress with a kitchen knife in an attempt to find the person [she] was having an affair with,” the report says.

After his girlfriend warned Lasa that she would call police, he allegedly fled the residence on foot and was later found hiding in a “dirt farm field” not far from the residence.

If convicted of the two crimes, both class 2 misdemeanors, Lasa could face up to eight months in jail and a $1,500 fine.

Lasa is being held on a combined bond of $7,700 at the Pinal County Adult Detention Center in Florence.