Police Say Casper Man Battered Woman Over 14-Year Period

A Casper man who is a pastor at a local church, invoked God after severely beating a woman, court documents say.

Raul Sanchez, who was also listed as a business director at an agency serving intellectually disabled people, was arrested Thursday on seven counts of aggravated assault, two counts of strangulation of a household member and one count of domestic battery.

According to a news release, Casper police began investigating numerous complaints regarding Sanchez on August 2. Detectives were able to confirm numerous claims of abuse over a 14-year period.

"In horrible situations like this, we do everything we can to help the victim," Casper police detective Chase Nash said in the release. "We are doing everything in our power to serve, protect and care for the victim."

According to their Facebook page, Sanchez is the pastor at Living Rock Foursquare Church of Casper.

In an email response, the Los Angeles-based International Church of the Foursquare Gospel said this: "ICFG is just learning of this developing story and takes seriously the information and issues involved. We have no further comment at this time."

Tom Morton, Townsquare Media

According to Sanchez's Facebook page, he works as the Business Development Director at NOWCAP, a non-profit organization that provides services to intellectually disabled people. Early Friday morning, the NOWCAP website listed Sanchez as a member of the organization's leadership team.

After a K2 Radio News reporter contacted NOWCAP regarding Sanchez, his photo and contact information was removed.

NOWCAP Executive Director Renate Pullen declined to confirm Sanchez's employment status per the advice of the company's attorney.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Sanchez "routinely" kicked and punched the victim.

"[The victim] said his favorite thing to do was grab her by the hair when they were in their vehicle and slam her head up against the car window," the affidavit reads.

The affidavit describes an undated incident in which Sanchez allegedly made the victim strip naked in his office at NOWCAP. The victim said that she did so out of fear that Sanchez would beat her.

In a 2006 assault, Sanchez beat the victim with a baseball bat on parts of her body that were typically covered by clothes so that people wouldn't see the bruises.

During a 2010 incident, Sanchez allegedly put a black Ruger pistol in the victim's face before handing it to her and telling her to kill herself with it. She took the weapon by the handle but refused to shoot herself, the affidavit says.

In 2012, Sanchez choked the victim — who was pregnant at the time — before punching her in the chest and causing her to fall to the floor. Weeks later, she visited an OB/GYN who told her that she lost the baby.

It was God's plan for the victim to lose the baby, Sanchez allegedly said.

Sanchez allegedly broke the victim's wrist in a 2017 incident before refusing to allow her to visit the hospital for several months after. When the victim eventually was able to visit the hospital, her wrist had healed in a way that she lost motion.

In another incident in 2017, Sanchez grabbed the victim's thumb and pushed it back and broke it.

In multiple 2018 incidents, Sanchez allegedly grabbed the victim by her throat until she became dizzy before punching her.

Police helped the victim retrieve her vehicle from Sanchez, the release says.

The victim provided police with several photographs of the bruises she suffered from the alleged beatings.