Corona, CA: Corona gang member sentenced for attacking deputies

A Corona gang member who attacked two Riverside County correctional deputies, slashing one's neck, during an attack at the downtown Riverside jail was sentenced today to 157 years to life in prison.

Jose Ageo Amaya, 28, will serve the sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz in addition to a life prison term previously imposed for a carjacking and attempted murder for which the defendant was convicted in March 2006.

Amaya, a member of the Corona Varrio Locos street gang, was jailed in February 2004 following his arrest for forcibly taking a man's car and stabbing the victim three times in the back, according to the District Attorney's Office.

The defendant was awaiting sentencing for that crime in June 2007 when he attacked the two deputies, said D.A.'s spokesman John Hall.

He said the gang member refused orders to return to his cell at the Robert Presley Detention Center one day and "pulled a shank from his pocket, slashing the neck of one of the deputies."

"After a violent struggle with assisting deputies, Amaya was apprehended," Hall said.

The defendant was convicted Nov. 24 of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal street gang activity and two counts of being a prisoner in possession of a deadly weapon.