Pueblo police officer takes plea deal in assault case, spends only 2 weeks on probation

A Pueblo police officer pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after initially being charged with felony assault, according to records obtained by The Pueblo Chieftain.

Officer Bennie A. Villanueva, 33, was charged in November 2020 with second-degree assault in connection to the injuring of Rigoberto Jimenez on July 25 of that year, at a high school graduation party for Jimenez' wife, as previously reported by The Chieftain.

Jimenez alleged there were two attacks, the first of which involved Villanueva. In total, Jimenez told investigators five or six individuals were involved.

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There was no initial report made by law enforcement agencies in the case, according to Karen Rivas, Court Judicial Assistant for the Colorado 10th circuit.

On April 12, 2021, the court did not find probable cause to indict Villanueva with second-degree assault and continued the matter until later that month when Villanueva was instead charged with third-degree assault; a misdemeanor.

On December 13, the officer pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct: unreasonable noise — an offense that falls below the level of a misdemeanor — in exchange for other charges being dropped.

Villanueva was sentenced to six months of court-supervised probation, community service and fines.

“This was a case of concern to our office as it involved a law enforcement officer," said District Attorney Jeff Chostner. "Any case involving a uniformed officer is of community concern and personal professional interest to me. The facts of the case were that an altercation began at a party in which Mr. Villanueva was present.

"He was involved in the altercation, which led to an initial charge of assault. However, based on the lack of strength of the evidence and our Office’s ability to sustain that charge, the case was pled down to a disorderly conduct charge. This charge best fit the facts, the law and the evidence we had before us. In short, we prosecuted it as aggressively as the facts would permit.”

On Dec. 27, Colorado Springs-based attorney Alexis Austin submitted an unopposed motion for early termination that was signed by the court the next day.

Austin argued in the motion that Villanueva had already submitted the completion of his community service and had paid all fees associated with his case, had no prior criminal history or any other criminal incidents since the date of the offense.

"Mr. Villanueva would like to get back to work, and with the court-supervised probation, he is unable to as the protection order is still active," Austin wrote in the motion. "His current employment requires him to carry a firearm."

Austin noted that being successfully terminated from probation would allow Villanueva to continue in his career and employment.

Villanueva is still an officer at Pueblo PD, said Frank Ortega, public information officer for the department.

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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo police officer takes plea deal, remains on the force