DA: Modesto man dragged girlfriend as she screamed ‘No, you’re going to kill me’

A 58-year-old Modesto man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for assaulting his then girlfriend after he was spotted dragging her into her apartment during a domestic violence incident last year.

Rufus Buster Beard Jr. on Feb. 20 pleaded no contest to a felony charge of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, according to Stanislaus Superior Court records.

Beard’s conviction was the result of a plea agreement with prosecutors, the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release this week. Deputy District Attorney Ahnna Reicks prosecuted the case.

The defendant’s no contest plea allowed him to avoid a trial scheduled to begin Feb. 25. A felony charge of kidnapping was dropped as a result of the plea agreement.

The incident occurred Feb. 16, 2018. Modesto police officers were called to the woman’s Modesto apartment to investigate a report of a family fight.

Prosecutors said neighbors had called 911 after seeing Beard pulling and dragging the victim by her feet into her apartment. The victim was screaming “No, you’re going to kill me,” according to prosecutors.

The woman had scrape marks on her back, and bruises on her arm.

Beard was convicted of kidnapping in 1985 which was used to double his prison sentence under the state’s “Three Strikes” law, prosecutors said.