Athens mom, kids charged in love triangle beating

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tipped off that her boyfriend was about to have sex with another woman when he accidentally dialed her  phone, a 32-year-old Athens woman attacked her competition, kicking her, beating her with a pool stick and dragging her by her hair, police said.

As a result, Xochitl Bernice Valdez-Mendoza and her teenage children were in custody Tuesday. Valdez-Mendoza is charged with aggravated assault and false imprisonment and two counts each of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and third-degree child cruelty. Her 16-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son are being held in the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center on assault and false imprisonment charges.

According to Athens police, the man inadvertently dialed Valdez-Mendoza’s number from his cellphone around 3:30 a.m. and that is how she could hear that her boyfriend, a manager at El Paisano, and a 20-year-old restaurant employee were preparing to have sex.

Valdez-Mendoza and her children immediately drove to the closed restaurant.

Valdez-Mendoza pounded on a window and finally used a flower vase to shatter the glass to get inside, according to police.

The report said Valdez-Mendoza found the couple in a back room.

The man ran away and could not be found while the younger woman was allegedly attacked.

Police said Valdez-Mendoza pummeled the younger woman with a pool stick, dragged her by her hair into the restaurant’s dining room and then kicked and punched her. The teenagers helped their mother by pushing down the younger woman when she tried to get up and by blocking her escape, according to police.