ASHDOWN, Ark–A convicted sex offender who had been living in Ashdown while claiming to live in the Texarkana area was recently charged with failing to register after police were called because of an alleged physical assault on his live-in girlfriend’s son.
Mario Martez Faucette, 37, came to the attention of the Ashdown Police Dept. in June after they were called to a house on South Beach St. in reference to possible child abuse, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Faucette’s girlfriend’s son, whose age is not specified in court records, allegedly reported that he had walked in on his mother and Faucette in a bedroom, angering Faucette.
Faucette allegedly threw a lighter at the son and choked him as he “slammed him on the couch.”
Faucette is accused of saying, “well he’s going to die today,” when the boy’s mother intervened and asked Faucette to stop.
Investigators documented injuries to the boy’s lip and he was interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Texarkana, Texas. The boy, who has asthma, allegedly reported being unable to breathe while being choked.
In the course of the investigation into the alleged family violence assault, detectives determined that Faucette was required to register as a sex offender since being convicted in Arkansas in 2015 of sexual assault involving a 15-year-old girl, court records show.
Faucette had allegedly not renewed his sex offender registration since 2016 when he reported living in Wake Village, Texas, near Texarkana, the affidavit said. Texas Department of Public Safety records show Faucette is now registered as living in Fort Worth, Texas.
Faucette was released from the Little River County jail Nov. 20 on a $10,000 bond, according to court records filed this week.
If convicted of aggravated assault, Faucette faces up to six years in prison, a fine up to $10,000, or both. If found guilty of violating sex offender registration requirements, he faces three to ten years in prison, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
At a court hearing Tuesday in Little River circuit court, Faucette’s case was rescheduled for a hearing in January.