One Year Ago Today (October 27, 2022)…A 27-year-old man accused of stabbing a Temescal Valley resident numerous times during a confrontation outside a mobile home park was charged with attempted murder and other offenses.
Mario Cervantes Martinez of Temescal Valley was arrested Tuesday following a weeklong Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
In addition to the attempted murder count, Martinez is charged with sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and inflicting great bodily injury.
The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta and was slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Reese, on the night of Oct. 18, Martinez and the victim, identified only as a Temescal Valley man, were involved in an unspecified dispute in the 21700 block of Temescal Canyon Road, just east of Interstate 15, near the Creekside Mobile Estates.
During the encounter, the defendant allegedly “stabbed (the victim) with a knife approximately three to five times,” after which he fled the area, Reese said.
He said that witnesses called 911, and patrol deputies arrived within a few minutes, discovering the man “profusely bleeding from … the back.”
The victim was taken to a regional trauma center for emergency surgery. He was in stable condition Thursday and expected to recover, according to Reese.
The sheriff’s spokesman said that detectives developed leads pointing to Martinez as the alleged assailant, and he was tracked down on Dos Lagos Drive in Corona, where he was taken into custody without incident Tuesday afternoon.
According to court records, Martinez has prior misdemeanor convictions for maliciously damaging property and being in possession of controlled substances. He has unresolved felony cases pending for alleged grand theft, vandalism and witness intimidation.