GOLDEN, Colo. -- A 16-year old juvenile, accused of kidnapping, robbing and sexually assaulting a young woman at knifepoint, has been charged as an adult.
Court documents allege that Dominic Gabriel Barrios targeted a young shopper who was walking to her car in a Target parking lot, at 50th & Kipling, on January 17.
“This is a woman’s worst nightmare,” said 1st Judicial District Attorney Peter Weir. “This is a woman going about her normal routine. She’s coming out of a Target store at 7:30 at night, carrying packages… on her way to meet family members.
The affidavit states that seconds after the woman got into her car, Barrios opened a passenger door and slipped into the back seat.
“She struggles with him, but he has a knife,” Weir said. “He forced her to drive to various locations and retrieved money with her ATM card.”
The affidavit also states that Barrios ordered the victim to activate the speaker on her cell phone, so he could monitor her conversation with concerned family members.
At one point, he apparently ordered the woman to disrobe and sexually assaulted her.
He then removed the battery from her cell phone and left her in an industrial area near 40th and Fox.
“These are not the actions of a routine juvenile,” Weir said. “These are not impulsive acts. Even though the defendant in this case may be 16, his conduct is very much the action of an adult criminal, so he must be treated as such.”
Suspect’s great grandmother reacts
The suspect’s great grandmother, who declined to give her name, told Denver7, “I don’t know what to say. He got in with the wrong crowd.”
She said she raised Dominic because his mother and grandmother wanted nothing to do with him.
When asked her reaction to Dominic being charged as an adult, she said, “I wish they wouldn’t because that’s going to mess everything up.”
Formal charges filed
Barrios reportedly had a pregnancy test kit with him and told the victim he needed it because his “wife” might be pregnant.
He also apparently told her that he had previously been incarcerated at both Montview Youth Detention Center and at Lookout Mountain.
He has been formally charged with 18 counts including First Degree Kidnapping, Second Degree Kidnapping, Sexual Assault and Aggravated Robbery.
He’s being held on $250,000 bond and is due back in court on March 9.
Difficult Decision
Weir told Denver7 that the decision to charge Barrios as an adult was not easy.
“There are many factors that go into the decision,” he said. “The nature of the crime and the age of the juvenile. In this case, it was an extremely egregious, dangerous person’s offense. The defendant, in this case, is over 16 years of age. The law provides that under this circumstance, we have the authority to move him from the juvenile system.”
Weir said there is only one decision that is more difficult than whether to charge a juvenile as an adult and that's when he has to decide whether to seek the death penalty in a murder case.
