Lansdale woman draws probation for stabbing incident

NORRISTOWN >> A Lansdale woman faces several years of probation in connection with a stabbing that occurred during a fight with another woman in the borough last December.

Darlene Joann Toribio, 26, of the 600 block of South Broad Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to five years of probation after she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of simple assault and possessing an instrument of crime, specifically a folding knife, in connection with the 2:24 a.m. Dec. 14, 2014, incident that occurred in the first block of East Main Street.

Judge William R. Carpenter, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also ordered Toribio to have no contact with the victim and to stay away from the East Main Street residence where the incident occurred.

Tor ibio or iginal ly was charged with stabbing two people during the incident — a woman and a man — but because the man did not show up at a February preliminary hearing in the case, prosecutors withdrew several criminal counts because there was not enough testimony to support holding those charges.

However, during the preliminary hearing earlier this year, the 18-yearold female victim testified Toribio stabbed her during the altercation.

An investigation began when Lansdale pol ice responded to East Main Street for a fight that was in progress and encountered a large crowd as well as a woman and a man with stab wounds, according to a criminal complaint filed by Lansdale Detective Nicholas Oropeza.

The female victim sustained a wound to her left thigh and the man had a wound to his left shin, police alleged. Both victims were transported to an area hospital for treatment.

Witnesses directed police to Toribio as the stabber and she was detained at the scene.

“Toribio was detained and a folding knife was located inside the sleeve of her jacket,” Oropeza alleged in the arrest affidavit. “The knife was seized and found to have blood on it.”

During questioning by police, Toribio admitted that during the altercation she began swinging at people with her knife and admitted to stabbing someone, according to the criminal complaint. Toribio claimed she was defending herself.

The female victim testified previously that she had been inside her house when she heard a loud commotion on the street and ran outside with several other family members to see what was occurring and saw several people involved in an altercation.

The victim testified she saw a male acquaintance arguing intensely with Toribio and ran over and got between them in an effort to break them up. The victim told police Toribio threatened to stab people and then lunged at her, stabbing her in the left thigh, according to the arrest affidavit.

According to court papers, the victim told police that she did not attack Toribio.