An Oct. 28 preliminary hearing is scheduled for a man suspected of felony assault in the death of a man who fell and struck his head during a fight in Spring Valley.
The victim was Manuel Arrechea Chavira, 45, who was injured March 13 and died at a hospital the next day. The cause of death was blunt force injury of the head, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Alex Anthony Martinez, 31, of Spring Valley, has been charged so far with felony assault and battery but he could later be charged with manslaughter or murder if the District Attorney adds those charges.
Martinez was arrested Sept. 2 on a charge of possession of a firearm and possessing a gun with methamphetamine, according to records in El Cajon Superior Court.
The sheriff’s department completed their investigation on Sept. 4 and Martinez pleaded not guilty on all charges Sept. 15.
The prosecutor could not be reached for comment, but the charges say Martinez committed the assault as a member of a criminal street gang.
Martinez remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility on $250,000 bail, but online jail records say he is being held on no bail for a prior case.
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A Nov. 4 preliminary hearing has been set for a man accused of carjacking a 77-year-old woman in Santee and crashing her car in La Mesa.
Christopher Frank DiSalvo, Jr., 31, is also charged with elder abuse, auto theft, and evading a police officer with reckless driving in the June 19 incident that started at 1 p.m. in the 9800 block of Mission Gorge Road.
The sheriff’s department said DiSalvo threatened to kill the woman and drove away with her purse and cell phone.
La Mesa Police officers found DiSalvo sitting in the stolen car in the 4600 block of Palm Drive. DiSalvo drove off, but then crashed into a tree. He ran into an apartment complex, but was found hiding in a stairwell and arrested.
DiSalvo did not know the owner of the car, said Deputy District Attorney James Koerber on Friday.
DiSalvo has also been charged with felony assault upon another inmate in jail. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in El Cajon Superior Court.
A judge set bail at $350,000, and DiSalvo remains in the George Bailey Detention Facility. He has previously been convicted of auto theft and five counts of burglary, according to court records.
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Two men will be sentenced Nov. 16 on charges they carjacked a taxi driver in La Mesa in 2019.
Jaden Razell Jones, 20, pleaded guilty to two separate armed carjackings while Jacob Ronald Jensen, 19, pleaded guilty one carjacking.
Both men were arrested March 6, 2019, after a taxi driver told La Mesa police his vehicle was taken after he drove to a Denny’s Restaurant at 6970 Alvarado Road at 1:03 a.m. to pick up four people.
Jones, Jensen, Kaitlyn Gendelman, 20, and a 17-year-old boy got into the car, but the two men punched the driver. One man pointed a gun to the driver and he left the vehicle, police said.
Gendelman also pleaded guilty to carjacking and remains free on $25,000 bond. Both Jones and Jensen remain in jail.
