Man accused of stabbing ex-girlfriend at UCI pleads not guilty

A 22-year-old man accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend at UC Irvine pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges Friday.

Prosecutors allege Rosendo Aguilar of Solana Beach attacked an unidentified UCI student in a campus parking lot on June 11.

Aguilar, who is not affiliated with the campus, stabbed her multiple times before a male UCI student intervened and held him at the scene until police arrived, according to campus officials and law enforcement.

In addition to attempted murder, prosecutors charged Aguilar with felonies for alleged aggravated assault with a knife and domestic battery.

He also faces misdemeanor charges for vehicle tampering, petty theft and vandalism in the days before the alleged stabbing, according to court documents.

Those charges stem from when Aguilar allegedly stole license plates from his ex’s car and a few days before the stabbing got into a struggle with her during which he tore some of her clothes and broke her watch, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Aguilar is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail, an amount his lawyer Brian Watkins called “extremely high” even for the most serious of the charges in this case.

Watkins said he may petition for lower bail, but at this point declined to comment on the allegations.

“We’re just starting our investigation into the case,” he said.

— Jeremiah Dobruck

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck