EPHRATA — A Moses Lake man was sentenced for punching and choking his girlfriend after she informed him she wanted to break up with him.

Eliazar Ramos, 37, of Moses Lake, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in Grant County Superior Court. Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Kevin McCrea and defense attorney Rafael Gonzales and sentenced Ramos to 15 months.

About 8:45 p.m. on May 28, the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a woman running south on Road L from Wheeler Road to Nelson Road. Police were informed the woman was bleeding from her face and didn’t have a shirt on. When she was contacted by police a substantial portion of the left side of the woman’s face was swollen and turning black. In addition, she reportedly had a cut to her right cheek and her nose was swollen and bloody, according to police records.

She told police she was attempting to break up with her boyfriend, Ramos, and he got upset and punched her in the face, neck and head numerous times. Ramos and the woman were in a pickup truck heading south on Road L when Ramos started to hit the woman. She said she jumped out of the truck in an attempt to get away from Ramos, but as she was exiting he grabbed her by the neck to stop her. She was able to get free and ran until she was picked up by a concerned citizen.

The woman was transported to Samaritan Hospital in Moses Lake and advised police she was staying with Ramos on Road H. 1 Northeast, but said she didn’t believe Ramos would return to the area and didn’t know where he had gone. Later in the night police spoke with the victim’s mother at Samaritan Hospital, who stated Ramos had threatened her daughter’s life and the lives of her family members in the past. The victim was able to corroborate her mother’s statement.

The victim’s mother further warned police that she heard Ramos carries around a handgun and other types of weapons. On June 1 a MLPD officer arrested Ramos during a traffic stop. The arresting officer located a Airsoft handgun underneath Ramos’s seat. The officer reported the gun “appeared like a real handgun.”

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.