MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- A Midland man was arrested last weekend after investigators said he seriously injured a friend after a night of drinking. Jesus Ledesma, 41, has been charged with Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury, a second-degree felony. 

According to a report, on March 18, deputies with the Midland County Sheriff’s Office were called to Midland Memorial Hospital after a woman visited the hospital with a facial injury. At the hospital, deputies learned that the victim had severe bruising, a concussion, and an orbital fracture, which will require surgery to repair. The victim told investigators that she was assaulted by a friend named “Jessie”. 

The woman said she’d given Jessie, later identified as Ledesma, a ride to a bar the previous night. She said when she returned to pick up her friend, he insisted on driving. Initially, the woman said she told Ledesma he couldn’t drive because he was too drunk; she later acquiesced because he became “irate”. Ledesma then reportedly drove to a gas station where things escalated. 

The woman said she wanted to go home and was going to walk but Ledesma pilled her back into the vehicle and began to drive away. Ledesma then drove to a friend’s house where he allegedly assaulted the victim. The woman told investigators she lost consciousness and wasn’t sure how she got home. She said Ledesma later told her to tell her family and her boss that she jumped from her car and that she was injured by accident.

Deputies later found Ledesma inside the victim’s home. He reportedly told investigators that he picked up the victim the night before and that “some dude” had beaten her up. He also said he couldn’t have been the one who assaulted the victim because his name is Jesus, not Jessie. Ledesma was arrested and taken to the Midland County Detention Center where he reportedly used one of his phone calls to contact the victim. He began that conversation by asking, “Hey, it’s Jessie, why did you tell them I hit you?”

Ledesma remained in custody as of Thursday afternoon on a $15,000 bond.