California Man Charged With Waterboarding Wife, Holding Her Captive In Their Home For Days

A Southern California man accused of torturing his wife was charged Monday with multiple felonies stemming from a January incident in the couple's home where he reportedly held the woman captive for days.

Richard David Schlosser was charged in January with torture, corporal injury on a spouse, false imprisonment and criminal threats against his unidentified 65-year-old wife inside their Newport Beach apartment, according to Orange County Superior Court records obtained by the Los Angeles Times. If convicted, he would face a minimum of seven years to life in prison.

The 36-year-old pleaded not guilty to all charges, court records showed. His wife claimed the man attacked her for six hours, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 6, while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller said.

"He did this for hours," he told City News Service in January. "He kept her captive in the apartment for hours … He actually waterboarded her."

Schlosser eventually "sobered up," which allowed the woman time to contact a friend, who then called police, Geller said. Schlosser punched and kicked her and cut her with scissors, she told police, according to a restraining order she filed in Superior Court.

He also allegedly choked his wife and stopped her from breathing by wrapping a towel around her neck, police claimed, according to court documents.

The woman was hospitalized where she received treatment for multiple injuries. The restraining order was thrown out after she failed to show up to a February court hearing.

Officers reportedly responded to Schlosser's apartment at 10:17 a.m. on Jan. 6 regarding a call they received asking them to check on a woman inside the residence, Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella told the paper.

Upon arrival, officers "identified a reason to believe a crime had occurred and entered the home to investigate," Manzella said.

Schlosser was then arrested and booked into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana where he remains on $2 million bond, according to jail records.

A representative from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office told the L.A. Times that a motion to increase Schlosser’s bail was sealed on Wednesday after the paper requested access to the documents.

Schlosser also faces possible sentencing enhancements after being out of jail on a $50,000 bail stemming from a separate 2016 domestic violence case in Riverside County at the time he allegedly attacked his wife.