A La Plata County man was arrested Friday in connection with a mini crime spree that included multiple assaults and a short float down the Animas River.

Mark Bufano, 21, was being held Friday night in the La Plata County jail without bail.

The series of events began Friday morning after a report of domestic violence involving Bufano, said Lt. Ray Shupe of with the Durango Police Department.

Deputies with the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office were searching for Bufano, but family members drove him into the city, Shupe said.

Shupe said that during the car ride to Durango, Bufano assaulted his grandmother and attempted to sexually assault a 13-year-old girl.

The family pulled over at north City Market, 3130 Main Ave., and called police.

Bufano fled on foot and jumped into the Animas River, fully clothed. He was carried downstream for two blocks before police pulled the soaked man from the river and handcuffed him.

“We had officers on both banks of the river,” Shupe said. “He came over near the side, and we got him out. He was intoxicated at the time.”

Bufano is suspected of domestic violence and at least two felonies: attempted sexual assault on a child and assaulting an at-risk adult – his grandmother who is 60 or older, Shupe said.

Efforts to reach a spokesman for the sheriff’s office for details about the domestic-violence incident were unsuccessful Friday night.

shane@durangoherald.com