Upstate NY man held family hostage while he drank 15 cases of beer

An upstate New York man from Callicoon is accused of holding his family hostage in their home for almost a week while he drank beer and slugged liquor.

Benito Lopez was arrested Monday on three felony charges of unlawful imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child after he allegedly held his girlfriend, 11-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter captive beginning on New Year's Eve.

The 40-year-old was on probation for felony drunk-driving. When authorities responded to a tip that Lopez was preventing the three individuals from leaving the home, they didn’t find any weapons, but they did discover 15 cases of empty beer cans and some liquor bottles.

Lopez is being held in Sullivan County Jail on $5,000 bail.

“She was pretty much held against her will,” Undersheriff Eric Chaboty said of Lopez’s girlfriend.

After Lopez took away his family’s electronic devices and disconnected the phone, his girlfriend used Facebook to alert a family member about the situation. “She made believe she was playing some games online when she actually had Facebook up,” Chaboty said.

[Times Herald-Record] [New York Daily News]