The co-owner of a popular food truck business in the Four Corners faces felony charges, and waived his first appearance on Dec. 11 in San Juan County Magistrate Court.
A preliminary hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. Dec. 20 for Michael Grinnell, 36, of Farmington. He faces a charges of third-degree felony aggravated battery on a household member and a fourth-degree felony aggravated assault against a household member.
Grinnell is a co-owner of Heavy Burgers, according to city of Farmington business registration records. Heavy Burgers has multiple food trucks with the predominant location having been in the parking lot of Lauter Haus. Brandon Beard, owner of Lauter Haus, announced via social media last week the relationship between the brewery and Heavy Burgers has since been terminated.
“Lauter Haus deemed it prudent to uninvite and remove Heavy Burgers from parking on site, pursuant to the playout of legal and practical processes,” Beard said. “Lauter Haus stands in support of victims of abuse, and longs for a day when abuse is no more.”
Heavy Burgers also has food trucks at 550 Pizzeria in Aztec and at Rambler Tap Room in Farmington. The business also had a contract with the Farmington Elks Lodge to provide food service there.
The charges against Grinnell stem from a Nov. 19 incident at the Grinnell home in the 1000 block of Schofield Lane.
According to the affidavit for arrest warrant, Grinnell came home from work about 6:30 Nov. 19 to find his wife had “cleaned and reorganized the kitchen table” in preparation for Thanksgiving. There had been a “stack of important papers lying on the kitchen table,” and Grinnell’s wife moved them, reportedly making him “irate.”
His wife reported to Farmington Police that she attempted to walk away, but he “drug her into the bedroom, grabbed her by the throat (initially with one hand) and threw her onto the bed,” court records state.
Grinnell reportedly “began choking her” with both hands, and then, she said he used a “box cutter knife,” to threaten her.
Grinnell wears the “3-inch” blade on a chain around his neck, and he reportedly “grabbed the knife from its sheath and held it above his head while still choking her with the other hand, yelling at her to beg for her life,” court records state.
Grinnell reportedly told her he “has been dreaming of stabbing her for some time,” and that he was “not going to kill” her, but that he “really” wanted “to cut your face up,” court records state.
The woman told police he held her in the house, and the incident went on for nearly 2½ hours, before Grinnell “packed a back and left the residence,” according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.
The woman reported the incident the next day, and police documented in court records that bruising on her neck was “consistent with bruising that is the result of someone being choked.”
Police issued an arrest warrant for Grinnell on Nov. 21, and it was served on Dec. 1. He was booked into the San Juan County Detention Center at 4:46 p.m. and was released at 5:30 p.m. the same day.
