Orange : 7 Years Given Man Who Threw Acid on Wife

A Soviet immigrant who pleaded guilty to throwing acid in the face of his estranged wife during an argument over child support payments was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday.

Joseph Elbaum, 37, was given the maximum possible sentence by Superior Court Judge Myron S. Brown.

The incident occurred Sept. 18, 1986, after Elbaum returned to the Orange home where his wife, Valerie Chernoff Elbaum, was living.

Prosecutors say the acid-throwing incident left Valerie Elbaum “massively disfigured.” She lost an ear and partial sight in one eye. She has undergone surgery several times and will have further surgery.

Elbaum’s lawyer, Bruce Bridgeman, described his client as “extremely remorseful.”

“I don’t think he had any idea what he was doing or that that stuff would cause as much damage as it did,” Bridgeman said. “He just wasn’t thinking when it happened.”