This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Republican Party leader was arrested this weekend after a warrant was issued stemming from a stalking charge — the third in two years.
Marco Diaz was pulled over Sunday for speeding, but was jailed for an outstanding warrant stemming from an April 26 incident where he allegedly attempted to talk to his ex-wife, Yvette Donosso, after a court hearing related to previous stalking charges.
In 2009, Diaz was charged with class A misdemeanor stalking and third-degree felony stalking for allegedly violating a civil stalking injunction filed by Donosso.
A warrant with a $10,000 bail was issued Aug. 31 He spent the night in jail until he bonded out of the Salt Lake County Jail.
"I believe there are two sides to every story. I am not guilty, and that will be proven in court," said Diaz, a member of the National Republican Hispanic Assembly and political activist. "Unfortunately, I think these charges are ridiculous and petty. She is filing these charges not because I talked with her, but because she thinks I wanted to talk with her, which was not the case."
Donosso, who is an attorney, filed a witness statement saying Diaz had returned to the courtroom in an agitated state after the hearing ended and had to be restrained by the bailiff.
Diaz was first charged with stalking about a week before he stood with Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to promote a task force that would go after the hardened criminal element within the undocumented immigrant population.