Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20

Sheriff's deputies and emergency = responders offer=20 help to a woman who was found injured on the side of the road at = highways=20 88 and 104 in the wake of a domestic violence incident on Sept. = 25.

Photo by: Bill=20 Lavallie
She was covered in dirt and = sobbing=20 uncontrollably when a sheriff's deputy approached her on the side of the = highway. It's a scene all too familiar to law enforcement - a shaken and = battered victim of domestic turmoil, mysteriously reluctant to given an = honest=20 account of the punishment they've endured at the hands of their=20 abuser.

It was 2:11 p.m. on Sept. 25 when sheriff's deputy Joseph = Woods=20 flipped on his lights and siren to hurry to a call about a woman = reportedly=20 being thrown from a moving truck after being abducted from the Jackson = Rancheria=20 Casino. Arriving on the scene, Woods discovered a 32-year-old woman near = the=20 highway crossing. He attempted to calm her hysterical crying as medical=20 responders pulled up.

With her hair mussed, her clothes filthy = and her=20 arms bruised and scratched, there was little doubt something had = happened to the=20 woman. However, getting to the bottom of the story wouldn't be easy for = Woods=20 and sheriff's investigator Sgt. Lawrence.

To start with, the = woman=20 falsely identified herself as Viviana Hernandez, when in reality she was = Melissa=20 Ann Ochoa of Stockton. Over the course of the investigation, she gave = several=20 conflicting accounts about how she came to be on the side of the road, = none of=20 which involved being thrown from the cab of a moving truck. She first = told Woods=20 that her ex-boyfriend had come up behind her in the parking lot of the = Jackson=20 Rancheria Casino and knocked her unconscious. She said she'd awoken to = find=20 herself in the back of a pickup truck with a camper shell, and that = she'd kicked=20 and screamed until he pulled over, allowing her to escape out the=20 back.

Upon being questioned by Sgt. Lawrence, Ochoa made a = dramatic=20 change in her account. Instead, she said that after arguing with her=20 ex-boyfriend at the Jackson Rancheria, he'd followed her back to a = friend's=20 house and struck her down with the pickup truck while she was walking = outside.=20 Pretending to be unconscious, she'd allowed herself to be loaded into = the back=20 of the truck until she later forced him to pull over - by kicking and = screaming=20 in the back - and then made her escape. Accompanied by Lawrence to the = new=20 location of the abduction, Ochoa went on to change her story several = times=20 again.

While it's unknown exactly how Ochoa ended up weeping on = the dusty=20 roadside, video surveillance from the Jackson Rancheria made one thing = seem=20 clear - she was a victim of domestic violence at the hands of her = ex-boyfriend,=20 whose name hasn't yet been released. Examining security footage from = inside the=20 casino, Woods believes to have observed Ochoa being struck in the head = by her=20 ex-boyfriend in full public view as she sat near a bingo machine. Ochoa = also=20 appeared to be further manhandled before exiting the frame. The day of = the=20 incident, Woods obtained a restraining on behalf of Ochoa from Judge = David=20 Richmond. The case has now been forwarded to the Amador County District=20 Attorney's Office for possible prosecution of Ochoa's = ex-boyfriend.

With=20 October recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Amador County's = Operation Care has launched its "purple people" campaign to educate the = public=20 on the overall toll abuse and battery take on community. The group's = executive=20 director, Lynn Shield, told the Ledger Dispatch that it's not uncommon = for=20 victims like Ochoa to change stories regarding their abuse. "If a victim = thinks=20 the specifics of the story they tell will affect how the abuser reacts, = then=20 sometimes they will tell multiple versions."

Shield went on to = stress=20 that domestic violence affects not only victims and abusers, but = everyone who=20 comes in contact with it. "Domestic violence has an impact on all of = us," she=20 explained. "Family, friends, co-workers are all touched by it. If we = turn our=20 heads and pretend it's not going on, then the patterns of abuse only = continue or=20 get worse."

Operation Care runs a shelter for victims of domestic = violence, as well as victims of sexual abuse. The group has a 24-hour = crisis=20 line at 223-2600.

Scott Thomas = Anderson