Prisoner From Riverside County Suspected Of Killing Cellmate

CALIFORNIA — A prison inmate from Riverside County is suspected of killing his cellmate, officials announced Thursday.

Norbert Arres III, 37, allegedly killed James D. Torres, 67, at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison.

Torres was found unresponsive in his cell at 5:12 a.m. Thursday by a correctional officer, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

He was taken to the institution’s medical facility "where life-saving measures were continued; however, EMS personnel pronounced Torres deceased at 5:39 a.m.," the state agency reported.

Details on the alleged killing were not provided.

Torres was admitted from Sacramento County on Jan. 23, 1996, to serve 50 years for rape of a spouse with force/violence, a second strike, and sodomy with force, a second strike, prison officials said.

Arres, of San Jacinto, was admitted from Riverside County on Oct. 25, 2018, to serve six years for possession of/owning a firearm by a felon or addict; tacked on to his sentence are three one-year enhancements.

Arres was arrested in August 2012 following a traffic stop in the 500 block of East Main Street in San Jacinto. He was found with a stolen, loaded handgun and methamphetamine.

The Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison houses 4,702 minimum-, medium- and high-security inmates, officials said.