Hospital stabbing suspect held in S.F. psych ward, misses arraignment

"Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi could not be arraigned today on a murder charge in the stabbing of San Francisco General Hospital social worker Alberto Rangel because he is being held in the same hospital's psychiatric ward. Tortolero Arriechi was charged with murder yesterday after Rangel died of his injuries on Sunday. Rangel was brutally stabbed in the hallway of Ward 86, the hospital's HIV/AIDS clinic, where he worked just three days earlier."

"In a statement, the District Attorney's Office claimed that on the afternoon of Dec. 4, Tortolero Arriechi went to San Francisco General Hospital's Ward 86 on Thursday to "speak to" a doctor while allegedly carrying a concealed knife. The defendant had reportedly visited San Francisco City Clinic on Seventh Street earlier that day, where the same doctor also works, to seek him out."

"In open court today, the bailiff said that Tortolero Arriechi could not appear. Deputy Public Defender Sylvia Nguyen, who was appointed as Tortolero Arriechi's attorney, asked for the court to postpone his arraignment by one week to Dec. 16. Judge Harry Dorfman called the case "a very serious homicide case" and agreed to hold Tortolero Arriechi in custody without bail for the time being. He urged Nguyen to move the case along faster if Tortolero Arriechi is capable of attending court sooner."

Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi could not be arraigned on a murder charge because he is being held in the psychiatric ward at San Francisco General Hospital. He was charged after social worker Alberto Rangel died from stab wounds sustained in Ward 86, the hospital's HIV/AIDS clinic where Rangel worked. The arraignment was postponed to Dec. 16 at the defense's request; Judge Harry Dorfman ordered Tortolero Arriechi held without bail and called the case a very serious homicide. The District Attorney alleges Tortolero Arriechi went to Ward 86 on Dec. 4 carrying a concealed knife to speak to a doctor. The defendant had reportedly sought the same doctor earlier at San Francisco City Clinic, where the doctor hid and alerted security. A sheriff's deputy was assigned to protect the doctor, and staff who knew of prior threats said the deputy should have monitored Tortolero Arriechi.

Read at Mission Local