Judge orders no bond for stabbing suspect
WEST PALM BEACH — A Greenacres man arrested this week in connection to stabbings at a sober home housed in a Jupiter townhouse is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail.
Ruben Torres made his first appearance at a hearing Thursday morning at the jail after being released from Jupiter Medical Center. A judge ordered that Torres, 44, be held without bond on two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Torres is accused of stabbing two of his roommates at the Christian Recovery Center’s sober home in the Antigua neighborhood within Jupiter’s Abacoa development.
Joseph Bacigalupo, 34, told police he got into a fight shortly before 4 a.m. Tuesday with Torres, who cut him on the torso with a knife. Melinda Higgins, who tried to intervene and grab the knife, sustained a serious cut to her hand, police said Tuesday. Bacigalupo said they had been drinking prior to the confrontation.
Police described Bacigalupo’s injuries as minor. Torres was taken to Jupiter Medical Center for an “unrelated medical episode.”
A second defendant, Robert Darigo — who described himself on Facebook’s as the sober home operator — is accused of punching Bacigalupo during the altercation. He faces a charge of battery and was released on his own recognizance Tuesday.