Man Gets 2 Years for Biting Referee’s Ear

A Los Angeles man was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for biting off part of a referee’s ear after a soccer match in Balboa Park.

Encarnacion Celestino Cifuentes, 39, pleaded no contest Jan. 5 to one count of mayhem in connection with the June 17, 1988, attack on Santos Gonzales, 41, of Hollywood.

Cifuentes was a spectator during a match between players of Salvadoran descent and players of Guatemalan descent. Cifuentes, a Guatemalan immigrant, disputed a call Gonzales had made against the Guatemalan team, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lloyd M. Nash.

After the match, Cifuentes ran onto the field and grabbed Gonzales from behind, biting off about half an inch of Gonzales’ right ear, according to court documents.

Gonzales was hospitalized and underwent surgery on his ear. He said he lost three months’ work because of the injury, according to a probation report prepared for the sentencing.

Deputy Public Defender Daniel Alan Kuperberg asked Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber for a probationary sentence, citing Cifuentes’ lack of a criminal record.

Nash argued for the two-year term, calling the incident “a vicious, unprovoked attack.”