Inset: Joshua Bermea (Comal County District Attorney’s Office). Background: The Comal County Sheriff’s Office in New Braunfels, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas man has been handed a lengthy prison sentence following his conviction for crimes related to the abuse of a former girlfriend, as reported by state authorities.
Joshua Bermea, aged 20, admitted his guilt on Thursday to charges of burglary with the intent to commit a felony other than theft, alongside a separate drug charge. These admissions came before Judge Gary Steel of the 274th District Court.
Bermea received a 40-year prison sentence for the burglary offense, and an additional 10 years for the drug charge. Judge Steel ruled that these sentences would be served consecutively, prolonging Bermea’s time behind bars.
These legal proceedings stem from events that unfolded in the fall of 2023, as detailed in a press release by the Comal County District Attorney’s Office.
Following their breakup, Bermea persistently harassed and threatened the victim, as noted by law enforcement. On September 22, 2023, the woman reported to police that Bermea had been following her in his vehicle, making threatening phone calls, and at one point, even threatened to collide with her car from behind.
On Sept. 22, 2023, the victim told police Bermea followed her in his vehicle while he was calling her on the phone and threatening her. During this harassment, the since-condemned man told the woman he was going to rear end her vehicle.
In one message, he said: “Imma make you live in hell.”
And the abuse indeed continued.
On Nov. 8, 2023, through the course of just that one day in question, Bermea sent approximately 250 text messages to the victim. Many of those messages were threatening, aggressive, and derogatory, prosecutors said. Specifically, the defendant threatened to kill the victim, hurt her family, and slash the tires on her vehicle.
In one message, the defendant told the woman: “Imma hurt the [expletive] outta you just [expletive] wait.”
On Nov. 9, 2023, the woman reported that she had been assaulted by Bermea, according to the New Braunfels Police Department.
“Bermea entered the victim’s home without permission,” the DA’s office explained. “When she told him to leave, he took her phone and began assaulting her. He slapped and backhanded her repeatedly, pushed her to the ground, and punched her in the body and legs. At one point, Bermea placed both hands around her neck and choked her, preventing her from breathing.”
During the attack, Bermea hit the woman so hard that one of her ears began to ring and she briefly lost her hearing, law enforcement said.
After the attack, Bermea dropped and broke the woman’s phone. After leaving the scene of the crime, he sent the victim another message that read: “I’ll be back one night to finish, where’s your protector, he wasn’t there, nobody to protect you, you a [expletive].”
