Man stabbed in ear with screwdriver at Canyon Park

Sue Doyle

COSTA MESA -- A Santa Ana man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of using a

screwdriver to stab a 38-year-old man in the ear at Canyon Park,

authorities said.

Gilberto Gonzalez-Soto, 52, will face charges of attempted murder. He

sits behind bars at Costa Mesa jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Gonzalez-Soto followed his ex-wife, Alejanrina Soto, 32, of Santa Ana, to

the park in the 900 block of Arbor Street, authorities said.

The woman apparently sat on a park bench around 5:30 p.m. with the

victim, Ramiro Valencia, 38, of Santa Ana, said Lt. Ron Smith of the

Costa Mesa Police Department.

Gonzalez-Soto pulled his T-shirt over his face as a disguise and came up

behind the pair on the bench, when he is believed to have stabbed

Valencia, then threatened to kill him and his ex-wife, Smith said.

Valencia was treated and released at a nearby hospital.

Alejanrina Soto suffered a cut on her arm from the screwdriver, Smith

said.