Menlo Park woman who stabbed co-worker to be sentenced

(KRON) — A Menlo Park woman who stabbed her co-worker in the neck is set to be sentenced this month.

Sandra Figueroa pleaded no contest to attempted murder. She is facing up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Sean Dabel on September 24.

Figueroa was 18 years old when she and her girlfriend “plotted to kill the victim” in March of 2020, prosecutors wrote. The victim was a 20-year-old woman who worked with Figueroa in East Palo Alto at Boys & Girls Club. She survived the knife attack.

Prosecutors said the attempted murder plot was carried out on March 17, 2020. Figueroa asked the victim to hang out.

When Figueroa and her 17-year-old girlfriend arrived outside the victim’s house, the girlfriend waited in Figueroa’s car and served as a lookout, according to investigators.

“Defendant walked over and got into victim’s car … and without warning stabbed her three times in the neck,” the district attorney’s office wrote.

The couple then fled from the San Francisco Bay Area and drove south. They were later arrested near the U.S.-Mexico border. The victim recovered from stab wounds after receiving treatment at a hospital.

Earlier this year, Mental Health Diversion Court Judge Susan Jakubowski found Figueroa not suitable for mental health diversion, which would have spared her from prison time. “Judge Jakubowski agreed with the prosecution and concluded the defendant poses an unreasonable risk of danger to the community if released on mental health diversion and cannot be safely treated in the community,” the DA’s office wrote.

Last month, Figueroa changed her plea from not guilty to no contest. She remains in county jail in lieu of $750,000 bail.

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