New details emerge in deputy sheriff arrest

A Nye County Sheriff’s official was arrested last week after an alleged domestic incident.

Deputy Sheriff Robert Cathcart, 51, of Hadley, was arrested by the Nye County Sheriff’s Office and charged with preliminary counts of domestic battery with strangulation and obstructing a public officer.

On Sept. 29, sheriff’s deputies responded to a residence on Senita Court in Round Mountain for a reported domestic battery incident.

Upon arrival, sheriff’s deputies discovered the victim outside of the home with some friends. The victim told deputies that she attended a going-away party at a local establishment, but before she left for the event, she and Cathcart got into an argument about their engagement.

Cathcart was reportedly angry over the victim posting their engagement photos on Facebook, stating, “it was just a joke,” the arrest report said.

The victim said when she got home from the party she discovered all the doors to their residence were locked, and that she had to go through the doggy door to gain entrance to the home.

The victim said she then encountered Cathcart, who questioned why she was in the residence after he had locked her out. The report states that at that point Cathcart grabbed his drink, and when their dog jumped up it knocked the drink out of his hand.

After that, Cathcart allegedly began calling the victim a “stupid bitch” and began to chase her around with a kitchen chair, according to police.

The victim stated that she ended up in the corner of the kitchen and asked Cathcart to not hit her with the chair, at which point he threw the chair down and began choking her, the arrest report stated.

The victim said Cathcart choked her for between 10 and 20 seconds, but “it felt like an eternity.”

After Cathcart let go, the victim was able to retreat to the guest bathroom and call 911. The victim said she had used her body weight to keep Cathcart from entering the bathroom and could hear him state that if she ruined his career, that he would kill her, the arrest report said.

According to the victim, Cathcart eventually fought his way into the bathroom, but when he realized that she was on the phone with police, he left and went into another room.

At that time the victim left the residence and waited on the side of the garage until deputies arrived.

The responding deputy said that he noticed she had darker marks around the sides of her neck. The deputy also asked if she had been drinking that night and she said she had four tequila shots.

After the deputy spoke with the victim, Cathcart came out of the residence, questioning who was on his property, stating that he had been sleeping and that she woke him up by throwing a drink on him.

While attempting to get information about what occurred before the deputies arrived, Cathcart reportedly kept trying to deflect questions and lead the deputy out of the house.

The deputy said that Cathcart ended up showing him a portion of the kitchen and bedroom, and he observed broken glass and a liquid on the bed, but Cathcart claimed he didn’t know how that got there and that he had been sleeping.

Cathcart then told the deputy that he had been drinking and that he had a weapon on him. When the deputy attempted to obtain the weapon, he said that Cathcart stepped away out of his reach. When the deputy went in to grab the gun for a second time, Cathcart swiped his hand away, grabbed the weapon and threw it into another room.

The deputy continued to question Cathcart and mentioned the gun that was thrown, to which he replied that he would have his shotgun in his hands soon, as he didn’t know who was going to be on his property next.

After those comments, while the deputy was in the doorway on his radio, Cathcart forcibly shut the door on the deputy and locked it.

Initially, Cathcart refused to come out of the residence, but after one hour passed he let a deputy and a detective in his home, showing them the various areas of the residence and claimed that he could not remember what had happened.

It was determined that some type of altercation took place in the residence and coupled with the marks on the victim’s neck consistent with strangulation, Cathcart was arrested on the pair of charges without further incident.

Cathcart has been employed as a deputy with the sheriff’s office for nine years. He is currently on administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal affairs investigation.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.