VERNAL — A Fort Duchesne man who admitted attacking a woman with a machete inside his home has been ordered to serve up to 15 years in prison.
Stuart Wade Mojado pleaded guilty in February to aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a third-degree felony.
Mojado, 22, was sentenced Tuesday to serve one to 15 years in prison for the aggravated assault charge, and up to five years in prison for the drug distribution charge.
On Dec. 23, Uintah County sheriff's deputies were called to Uintah Basin Medical Center, where doctors were treating a woman for two lacerations to her left arm. Both cuts were so deep that the "bone was clearly visible," according to charging documents.
The woman told deputies she had been drinking at Mojado's house when she got into an argument with him and decided to leave. But when the woman got outside, she realized she'd forgotten her cellphone and went back inside to find it. The woman told deputies she encountered Mojado in the hallway and he cut her twice with a black machete before she could escape.
Doctors told investigators the major artery in the woman's arm had been cut, as well as the tendons. They also said the only reason the woman didn't bleed to death was because it was extremely cold when she left Mojado's house, causing her to be mildly hypothermic, the charges state.
A subsequent search of Mojado's house turned up the machete, a 9mm handgun, about a pound of marijuana and materials typically used to package marijuana for sale, deputies said.
When he entered his guilty plea, Mojado admitted in court records that he "used a sharp weapon" to cut the woman. He also claimed that she entered his house "without authority" and had stolen $1,500 from him.
Uintah County prosecutor Dan Bokovoy disputed Mojado's claim.
"There was no evidence that she entered without authority and there was no evidence that she stole from him," Bokovoy said. "He was interviewed afterward and he never mentioned that."
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