Landscaper jailed for attacking co-worker with knife

NORRISTOWN » A onetime employee of a landscaping company faces several months behind bars after he admitted to assaulting a co-worker with a knife while arguing at a Plymouth Township worksite.

Luis Angel Burgos-Feliciano, 26, of the 3400 block of Jasper Street, Philadelphia, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 9-to23-months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated assault in connection with the 3:20 p.m. June 7, 2017, incident in the 1000 block of Germantown Pike in Plymouth. Judge Richard P. Haaz, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, ordered Burgos-Feliciano to report to the jail on Feb. 20 to begin serving the sentence.

The judge said Burgos Feliciano also must complete three years’ probation

after he’s paroled, meaning he will be under court supervision for about five years. The judge ordered Burgos-Feliciano to have no contact with the man he slashed with the knife.

Burgos-Feliciano also must submit to a drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with any recommendations for treatment.

An investigation began when an employee of H&R Landscaping told Plymouth police that he was stabbed by a co-worker, Burgos-Feliciano, during an altercation at the Germantown Pike worksite. The victim suffered a two-inch laceration to his left torso and required medical treatment at a local hospital, according to court documents.

Burgos-Feliciano was taken into custody a short time after the incident near the intersection of Donna Drive and North Gravers Road. Burgos-Feliciano told detectives he discarded the knife in a heavily wooded area after leaving the scene of the altercation.

The stabbing occurred when Burgos-Feliciano and the victim got into an argument about Burgos-Feliciano’s work performance during a mulching and leaf cleaning project on a property in the 1000 block of Germantown Pike.

The victim told detectives that as he and Burgos-Feliciano argued Burgos-Feliciano was holding a rake and pointing at him. The victim claimed that Burgos-Feliciano then put the rank down and came toward him, at which time the victim punched Burgos-Feliciano, knocking him backward, according to the criminal complaint filed by Plymouth Detective Joseph LaPenta III.

The victim claimed Burgos-Feliciano then approached him again and stabbed him in the side of his torso. The victim allegedly told detectives, “I never saw what he stabbed me with I just felt the pain of being stabbed,” according to the criminal complaint. During the investigation, Burgos-Feliciano told detectives the co-worker was “cursing at him and demeaning him,” during the argument, according to the criminal complaint. Burgos-Feliciano claimed the victim grabbed the rake from his hands and then punched him with a closed fist on the left side of his head, according to court documents.

Burgos-Feliciano allegedly told detectives that after he was punched he pulled a knife from his pants pocket, “opened the knife and swung the knife to cut (the co-worker) but not to stab him,” according to the arrest affidavit.

“When asked why he stabbed (the co-worker), Burgos-Feliciano stated because (the co-worker) struck him first,” LaPenta wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Court documents indicate the victim underwent exploratory surgery to make sure that his bowel was not perforated by the knife wound.