Lucerne man convicted in 2016 carjacking and robbery case
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lucerne man has been sentenced to prison for a 2016 carjacking and robbery case.
Judge Michael Lunas handed down the 12-year sentence to 33-year-old Jason Michael Arreaga on May 16, according to Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson.
Abelson said that on July 4, 2016, Arreaga and his codefendant in the case, Andrew Nicholas Azbill, 27, also of Lucerne, robbed and assaulted a man who Arreaga had met earlier in the day at a motel in Cloverdale, and also took the man’s car.
The victim discussed selling his car to Arreaga, who agreed to purchase it for cash and marijuana. Arreaga then asked for a ride to Lake County, Abelson said.
During that time, the investigation showed that Arreaga and Azbill were communicating about carjacking the man, she explained.
They later went to a location on Elk Mountain Road where they did drugs, then Arreaga and Azbill began beating the victim, Abelson said.
The victim ran away and, several hours later at about 6 a.m., he ended up at a campground. Abelson said the man was found covered with blood.
She said the victim was transported to an out-of-county hospital where he was treated for his injuries. He would require 30 staples in his head and has a finger that is permanently injured.
Law enforcement would get surveillance video that showed Azbill and Arreaga taking the victim’s property from the Cloverdale motel room. Abelson said those items later were found at Azbill’s home.
Both Azbill and Arreaga would be taken into custody. In Arreaga’s case, Abelson said he was arrested on July 18, 2016, when he was found in possession of drugs for sale and a firearm. At that time he was in the victim’s car, which hadn’t yet been entered into the stolen vehicle system.
Abelson said Arreaga and Azbill stood trial together on charges of attempted murder, carjacking and robbery.
The jury acquitted them of the attempted murder charge, and Azbill was found not guilty of carjacking. Abelson said Arreaga was convicted of carjacking, battery with great bodily injury and auto theft, and the jury also found he had a prior prison term for bringing drugs into jail in Humboldt County.
That Humboldt County case was for bringing drugs into the jail when Arreaga was being held for a 2014 double murder, as Lake County News has reported. Arreaga stood trial twice for those killings, with a hung jury at the first trial and an acquittal on the second.
Abelson said Arreaga also has four other previous prison terms for drug-related cases and for a 2013 case involving assault.
At the May 16 sentencing, Arreaga – who has remained in custody since his July 2016 arrest – lost his good conduct credits because of approximately 30 rule violations which included vandalism and “gassing” other inmates, Abelson said.
In explaining the gassing issues, Abelson cited the penal code which says “gassing” means “intentionally placing or throwing, or causing to be placed or thrown, upon the person of another, any human excrement or other bodily fluids or bodily substances or any mixture containing human excrement or other bodily fluids or bodily substances that results in actual contact with the person's skin or membranes.”
She said Arreaga was putting his feces in a container and then throwing the excrement on other inmates. It was a practice she said he continued while on short breaks from the jail’s version of solitary confinement.
He also was damaging jail property, including a restraint chair and using a mop to destroy jail sprinklers, she said.
“I’ve never had a judge take away that many credits,” Abelson said.
As of Wednesday, Abelson confirmed that Arreaga had been transported to the custody of the state prison system to begin serving his term.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.