Woman charged with felony battery, accused of stabbing woman with screwdriver
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IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls woman is facing a felony battery charge after police say she assaulted and stabbed another woman with a screwdriver over a $300 drug debt.
Nikita Cruz Valdovinos, 37, was arrested and charged with the singular felony after police say the injured woman contacted them to report the incident. Felony battery carries a possible punishment of up to 15 years in prison.
Police say the injured woman was interviewed about the March 30 incident while she was an inmate at the Bonneville County Jail. She told police the alleged assault happened at a house on the 700 block of Contor Avenue in Idaho Falls.
According to court documents, the woman said the owner of the home had given her $300 worth of methamphetamine and she had not paid him back. She told police she had managed to give some money and electronics to the man, but claimed he told her the debt was still $300.
The woman said she was in a back bedroom of the house with the homeowner and another person while Cruz Valdovinos, the homeowner’s girlfriend, was in a nearby bathroom. The woman said Cruz Valdovinos suddenly attacked her from behind, striking her in the back of the head and then in the forehead.
She told police the blow to the forehead broke the skin, causing blood to spill down her face and preventing her from seeing clearly. She said she believed she had been hit with a screwdriver because she saw some metal sticking out of Cruz Valdovinos’s hand, according to the charges.
The woman said Cruz Valdovinos continued to hit her and was saying that the drug debt actually belonged to her. At some point, the injured woman got onto a bed and was stabbed again by Cruz Valdovinos, this time in the knee in the left knee, the charges say.
The woman told police she managed to get away from her attacker but was stopped by another individual in the home, who then took her out of the home.
The charges state that the officers collected the woman’s clothing and took photos of her injuries, which they say were consistent with someone who had been assaulted.
A warrant was issued for Cruz Valdovinos’ arrest, and she was eventually taken into custody and booked into the Bonneville County Jail.
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to Cruz Valdovinos’ attorney, public defender Brad Rigby, for comment on her charges, but he declined to do so.
Cruz Valdovinos is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. on May 29 before Magistrate Judge Ralph Savage.
Though Cruz Valdovinos has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.