By Dan Nienaber, Mankato Free Press

MANKATO — A Mankato couple’s Valentine’s Day date didn’t go as well as planned, ending with the man getting a fork in the face and a weekend stay in jail for both him and his girlfriend.

Police were sent to a residence at 123 Lynn Lane at about 12:30 a.m. Feb. 15 after a child called 911 to report a man had been stabbed in the face with a fork. When officers arrived, Julian Guadalupe Pacheco, 40, had a wound on his left cheek and blood on his shirt. The officer who talked to him also noted a strong alcohol odor.

Pacheco told officers he and 37-year-old Veronica Garcia, who also lives at the residence, had gone out that night to celebrate Valentine’s Day. He said the date started going badly when Garcia wanted to drive around town while intoxicated, so he talked her into driving him home. Pacheco said he thought she left the house again after dropping him off, according to the complaints filed Tuesday in Blue Earth County District Court.

An argument started when she walked into the house a short time later, he reported.

“He stated that she picked up a fork in the kitchen and he asked her what she was going to do,” the complaint said. “She came up to him and stabbed him in the left side of his face with the fork. He then stated he removed the fork from his face and threw it in the kitchen.”

Garcia told another officer Pacheco had slapped her in the face and grabbed her forearm while they were at one of the downtown bars they had been to the night of Feb. 14, the complaint said. She also said he punched her in the face while they were driving home. There were marks on her neck that were consistent with being assaulted, the complaint said.

A witness at the house told an officer Pacheco said he had been stabbed and asked her to call police. The witness also reported seeing Garcia attempting to stab herself in the stomach with a fork.

The couple, who divorced in 2009, had to stay in jail at least until Feb. 18 because Feb. 17, Presidents Day, was a holiday for state and county employees.

Garcia is facing several charges, including a felony count of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. Pacheco has been charged with felony domestic assault. Both have faced assault charges in the past.