PERRIS, CA — A Menifee teen was facing felony charges after leading a weekend police chase through the Perris area in an off-road vehicle.

Shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday, the 16-year-old boy, whose name was not released due to his age, was spotted driving a Polaris RZR on a public street with an underage passenger.

Deputies from the Perris Sheriff’s Station tried to pull him over, but instead of stopping the teen “sped away and drove recklessly … endangering other drivers,” the sheriff’s department reported.

Deputies chased the off-road vehicle through Romoland, Nuevo and Lakeview, and finally corraled the teen and his passenger in the hills near Foothill and Orange avenues, just south of Lake Perris, the agency said.

The passenger was taken into custody but later released to his parents. The driver, however, was booked into juvenile hall on suspicion of two counts of felony evading and one count of reckless driving, according to the sheriff’s department.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and the city of Perris are dedicated to the safety of everyone, including community members driving on/off the streets. Additionally, we would like to remind our community members that operating an OHV on [a] public street is not only illegal but it can also be dangerous,” the law enforcement agency said.

Visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/ivm/ or http://ohv.parks.ca.gov/ for legal off-road locations across the region. For additional information regarding OHV access spots, contact the Perris Sheriff’s Station at 951-210-1000.

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The Banning Police Department and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control conducted the May 3 operation using a decoy who was under age 21.

Standing outside of a retail store, the decoy asked patrons to buy alcohol as undercover law enforcement watched. The minor indicated they were underage and unable to purchase alcohol, according to Banning police.

Two people fell for the trap during the sting that law enforcement calls a “shoulder tap” operation.

The penalty for furnishing alcohol to a minor is a minimum $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service, according to Banning police.

“We conduct these operations to keep alcohol out of the hands of our youth,” said ABC
Director Joseph McCullough. “By preventing underage drinking we can increase the
quality of life in our communities and reduce DUIs.”

This operation was funded by ABC’s Alcohol Policing Partnership program and the California
Office of Traffic Safety through NHTSA.

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SAN JACINTO, CA — A man accused of gunning down a 31-year-old San Jacinto woman and trying to kill her companion in a premeditated attack nearly seven years ago pleaded not guilty Friday to first-degree murder and other charges.

Daniel Antonio Cortez Acevedo, 27, of San Jacinto allegedly killed Anna Meza for undisclosed reasons in 2017.

Along with murder, Acevedo is charged with attempted murder, a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.

The defendant was arraigned before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Francisco Navarro, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for June 7 at the Banning Justice Center.

Acevedo is being held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Jesse Martinez said the identity of Meza’s alleged killer required a “lengthy investigation” by Central Homicide Unit detectives.

The victim was walking with a man identified in court documents only as “J.M.” in the 100 block of North Dillon Avenue, near Main Street, on the afternoon of Nov. 12, 2017, when Acevedo allegedly approached them and pulled a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol, opening fire, according to investigators and prosecutors.

Meza was shot to death in the street. J.M. was not wounded.

The assailant, then unknown, fled the scene.

Investigators initially had little information on the circumstances and asked for the public’s assistance, but few clues surfaced.

Martinez did not disclose what detectives uncovered that finally led them to Acevedo, or why he allegedly targeted the victims.

He was taken into custody without incident following a traffic stop in San Jacinto on April 12.

Court records show the defendant has a prior misdemeanor conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm.

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