Man Pleads Not Guilty To Attack On La Quinta Woman

INDIO, CA — A 24-year-old man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of attacking a woman when he discovered another man at her La Quinta home, then trying to stab the man with a pencil before stealing several items and fleeing.

Joseph Villareal allegedly entered the woman's home at 52575 Eisenhower Drive in La Quinta around 3 p.m. Monday and grabbed the woman "around the throat after noticing she had another male in the house," according to court records.

Villareal allegedly tried to stab the man with a pencil before fleeing the home with a purse and phone. He was arrested at 3:15 p.m. on the corner of Avenue 52 and Madison Street, according to jail records.

Court records show the woman had filed for a restraining order against Villareal due to an alleged assault three days earlier. Court documents don't specify the relationship between Villareal and the woman.

Villareal pleaded not guilty to burglary, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, criminal threats with great bodily harm and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.

He was booked at the Indio jail in lieu of $1.5 million bail and is expected back in court on May 15.

— By City News Service