Man held Millcreek family hostage for months, claiming ‘cartel’ wanted to kill them, police say

MILLCREEK — A man has been arrested after police say he held his girlfriend’s family hostage in their Millcreek home for about six months after convincing them he had ties with the cartel and that it wanted to kill them.

The man later admitted it was a lie, police said.

Dominic Christopher Garcia, 23, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Saturday for investigation of seven counts each of aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, threats of violence and hazing involving use of a dangerous weapon.

Millcreek family took things into its own hands

A Millcreek man reported Saturday that “he and his family had been being held against their will by their daughter’s boyfriend, Dominic Garcia. The complainant reported they weren’t able to take it any longer, and they were holding (Garcia) at gunpoint until police arrived,” according to a police booking affidavit.

Officers arrived and took Garcia into custody “without incident.”

The father reported that he and his wife allowed Garcia to move into their home in December of last year to live with their daughter, who was dating Garcia.

The father said “almost immediately, (Garcia) started telling the family that his family was part of a business that had ties to the cartel and that in order to stay on the cartel’s good side, they needed to do certain things, and they needed to be diligent in their safety,” according to the affidavit.

The household included seven family members in addition to Garcia. The father said Garcia “repeatedly told them the cartel would kill them if they did not do what they were told.”

Millcreek family said captor started carrying a weapon

Garcia began carrying a 10mm handgun “to protect himself and the family,” the affidavit states. The man “would rack the gun and take the magazine out in the living room, which made (the family) feel threatened.”

At one point, Garcia told the family “his grandfather’s business did a bad deal and that they needed to leave for a while,” causing the family to leave for about a month. One of the household members afterward sent a text message explaining to a friend where they had been, “and Dominic had seen the text and things became very bad,” the affidavit says.

The father reported Garcia “started telling him that because (Garcia) had brought (the father) into the company, (Garcia) would have to kill (the father) if he stepped out of line,” and that Garcia “became increasingly more threatening with the handgun and would carry it around all the time and would make sure he and the rest of the family knew he was carrying the handgun,” police reported.

The father said Garcia would sometimes come home covered in blood and would tell the family it was “due to the business.”

The other family members also told police Garcia told them “numerous times” that people outside their home were going to kill them all, the affidavit alleges.

Garcia “would routinely go through their phones and check to see who they were communicating with and would confront them about anything he did not agree with,” police said.

The family reported Garcia would routinely make sure his gun was loaded and “would point the gun around the house,” empty it and “then point the gun at random members of the family as a game.”

Millcreek family was reportedly restricted

Garcia would allegedly limit or restrict the family from leaving the home and would yell at them if they left for longer than he allowed.

After the family returned home after leaving for a month, one of the family members said Garcia “told her that the men wanted her punished and held accountable,” and pointed the gun at her and threatened to kill her. Garcia allegedly made the family member do “boot camp” for about four months that consisted of “five workouts a day,” “ice baths,” and holding her face under water, according to the affidavit.

The same family member reported she had to sleep in the living room, standing guard until 5:30 a.m. every night “to watch for those people trying to kill them,” police said.

A 17-year-old family member said she missed a month of her senior year of high school due to the situation. Garcia did not allow her to attend her senior dinner “because he could not see her location,” according to the arrest report.

Garcia’s girlfriend, who was pregnant, “felt he was threatening her family and was concerned for her family but she never felt he would hurt her,” police said, adding that the woman said Garcia “had choked out their pet dogs on occasions when he became upset and had been violent toward her sister.”

“It was all a lie”

When interviewed by police, Garcia told them he “made everything up” and “it was all a lie,” the affidavit says.

“(Garcia) said that he continued this lie for several months because he did not know how to stop it in fear that they would not like him. (Garcia) admitted to having a gun with him and to sleeping with a gun to protect himself from the people that were coming to kill him and that family,” the affidavit states. “(Garcia) knew he was inflicting mental trauma on this family and causing them to live in fear.”

Unified police have asked that he be held without bail due to the family’s fear that he will come after them if released.

“Releasing (Garcia) would not only be a danger to the family but would also be a substantial danger to the community if his claims of being involved in the cartel were valid. (Garcia) is a flight risk because he has close family down in Mexico,” police wrote.