Murrieta Parolee Arrested After Temecula Carjacking, Police Chase

By City News Service, photo courtesy Riverside Sheriff’s Dept.

A parolee from Murrieta was in custody after allegedly carjacking two motorists and leading police on a chase that ended in San Bernardino County, sheriff’s officials said Monday.

Giorgio Armani Castanon-Baez, 27, was being held without bail at the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine, possessing another controlled substance and violating terms of his post-release community supervision, jail records show.

Deputies were sent just before 7 p.m. Sunday to investigate a report of a carjacking at Old Town Front Street near 5th Street in Old Town Temecula, sheriff’s Sgt. Curt Harris said.

An investigation determined that a suspect, later identified as Castanon- Baez, assaulted a man and drove off in the victim’s black Dodge Charger.

A few minutes later, sheriff’s officials in Perris received a report of another carjacking -- this on northbound Interstate 215, near McCall Boulevard, Harris said. Castanon-Baez had jumped out of the Charger when he encountered heavy traffic, pulled another motorists from a pickup truck, assaulted him, and drove off in the pickup, the sergeant said.

Sheriff’s deputies and CHP officers spotted the pickup truck and gave chase. The suspect abandoned the vehicle near the junction of interstates 10 and 15 in Ontario, Harris said.

Castanon-Baez was arrested after a brief foot chase, with help from a sheriff’s police dog. He was allegedly under the influence of drugs and in possession of methamphetamine and a knife, Harris said.