Police raise charge for repeat domestic violence offender found sleeping in woman’s home

A man with prior convictions of domestic violence has been arrested on suspicion of punching his ex-girlfriend in the face in early August.

Police received a call around 7:30 p.m. Aug. 3 that a woman was standing on her balcony, bleeding, and appeared to have been assaulted, according to a Spokane Police Department release.

Police contacted the woman, who held a bloody towel over her mouth. She had a swollen lip and an injury in her mouth, the release said.

She told police she’d unexpectedly met her ex-boyfriend, Ryan Stockton, 34, at a grocery store. He asked for a ride to her home to pick up some items he’d left.

Once inside, Stockton told the woman that he was not going to leave, according to police.

After about 10 minutes of arguing, Stockton came up to her and “sucker punched” her twice in the face, knocking her to the ground, the woman told police.

She then crawled out to her balcony and yelled for help, she told police. When she went back inside, Stockton was gone, she said.

Four days later, police responded to a welfare check at the woman’s residence.

The caller said she was contacting police on behalf of her employee, whom she knew had recently been the victim of violence.

The woman had called in sick and was unreachable, the caller said.

When police arrived at the woman’s residence, she said she was just sick and staying home with her daughter. However the officer noticed the woman was acting uneasy and “giving looks of concern.”

After talking with the woman a bit longer, her daughter said something along the lines of “he is here,” the release said. The woman allowed police to enter her home, where they found Stockton asleep in the bedroom, the release said.

Police arrested Stockton. He has four prior domestic violence convictions stemming from multiple incidents in 2018.