MILLCREEK, Utah, May 18, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) -- A 23-year-old Millcreek man was arrested Saturday for investigation of 28 crimes after he allegedly armed himself and held his girlfriend's family hostage, controlling them with stories that they were in grave danger due to his family's business, which had ties to a violent drug cartel.
Dominic Christopher Garcia was arrested Saturday after the girlfriend's father called dispatch, saying "they weren't able to take it any longer, and they were holding Dominic at gunpoint until police arrived."
The complainant, identified in police documents as "R.S.," reported that he and his wife allowed Garcia to move into their home in December because he was dating one of their daughters.
The father said that 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."
Besides the parents and involved daughter, the household had four other related members, says Garcia's arrest document, filed by an officer of the Unified Police Department.
R.S. said Dominic "repeatedly told them the cartel would kill them if they did not do what they were told. R.S. said he purchased a 10mm handgun, which Dominic began carrying to protect himself and the family.
"R.S. said Dominic would continue to tell them that the cartel was going to kill them and would rack the gun and take the magazine out in the living room, which made him and his family feel threatened.
The father also said, Dominic "told them his grandfather's business did a bad deal and that they needed to leave for a while. R.S. said they left their home for approximately a month, and when they returned, one of the family members sent a text message explaining to her friend where they had went, and Dominic had seen the text and things became very bad."
The family member who sent the message was ordered by Garcia to do a "boot camp" for about four weeks, the affidavit says. The boot camp consisted of five workouts a day, at all hours of the day, ice baths and at one point Dominic insisted "the men were going to beat her and she needed to ice her face so she would not feel the pain."
The family member "said that when she did not hold her face under water long enough for him, Dominic held her head under water until he felt it was sufficient. (She) said it was long enough she could not breathe and struggled to get up."
The father said that Garcia told him that "because Dominic had brought R.S. into the company, Dominic would have to kill R.S. if he stepped out of line."
"R.S. said Dominic 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.... R.S. said Dominic had even come home on occasions covered in blood and would tell them it was due to the business."
Garcia told family members "that there were people outside of their home that were going to kill all of them."
Some family members were allowed to leave the residence for limited numbers of hours or days, the statement says, and were threatened if they stayed out longer. One family member also reported Garcia had choked the family dog on several occasions.
Garcia's truth
Post Miranda, Garcia agreed to answer questions.
"Dominic stated he made everything up and said it was all a lie," the affidavit says.
Garcia admitted to telling the family made-up stories about his family, the drug cartel, and the threat of danger. He admitted to having the gun, and conducting the "boot camp," his court documents say.
"Dominic 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."
"Dominic knew he was inflicting mental trauma on this family and causing them to live in fear."
Garcia is being held for investigation of the following alleged crimes:
- Seven counts of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony
- Seven counts of hazing involving use of a dangerous weapon, a second-degree felony
- Seven counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Seven counts of threat of violence, a class B misdemeanor
Garcia was ordered held without bail.
