Woman Pleads Not Guilty To Castration Attempt

INDIO (CBS) — A 69-year-old Palm Springs woman accused of trying to cut off her husband's penis with heavy-duty scissors pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges.

Virginia Valdez is charged with inflicting corporal injury on a spouse and assault with a deadly weapon. Riverside County Superior Court Judge Thomas N. Douglass also issued a protective order barring Valdez from having any contact with her husband, according to court records.

Valdez is due back in court April 10 for a felony settlement conference.

She posted $100,000 bail and was released from jail Dec. 5, two days after Palm Springs police went to the couple's residence in the 1700 block of Rochelle Road in response to a call from Valdez's 62-year-old husband, according to Palm Springs police Sgt. Melissa Desmaris.

Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokesman John Hall said Valdez could get up to nine years in prison if convicted.

Detective Simon Min wrote in a declaration in support of an arrest warrant that Valdez and her husband were having oral sex when she said she had to brush her teeth, then "retrieved a pair of scissors and cut the victim's penis."

Her husband, identified as "John Doe" in the criminal complaint, "got up in a panic and screamed in pain," the document states. He drove himself to Desert Regional Medical Center, where he told police that his wife had tried to cut off his penis, according to Min, who said the husband's injury required four stitches. Police did not indicate if the man suffered permanent damage, but Min stated that the injury needed "advanced medical (attention)."

Police did not say what precipitated the attack.

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