Man pleads not guilty to stabbing woman with pencil at hospital
A man accused of stabbing a woman with a pencil at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center on April 20 pleaded not guilty to assault with a deadly weapon.
Thomas Robert Fredette, 38, was arraigned Friday on the felony charge with the special allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said Fredette, a Santee native, grabbed several pencils from a room where a test was being administered inside the Torrance hospital, then stabbed a woman in the ear.
After hearing the woman’s screams, hospital staff restrained Fredette until he was arrested, prosecutors said.
Fredette is being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility on $60,000 bail. His next court date is May 9.
If convicted, Fredette faces a maximum seven years in prison.
Twitter: @ryanvmenezes
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