A pair of inmates released under an emergency order passed by California’s Judicial Council amid the coronavirus pandemic have been arrested on new charges this week.
Rocky Lee Music, 32, was charged Wednesday with carjacking a motorist over the weekend, less than an hour after he was released from the Santa Rita Jail near San Francisco, the Associated Press reported.
The Santa Rita Jail has had more than a dozen inmates test positive for COVID-19, the sheriff’s office said.
A second man, Owen Aguilar, 27, was charged on Wednesday near Fresno after police say he intentionally set nine fires since he was released from custody last week under the emergency order, the outlet reported.
Earlier this month, the council ordered the release of thousands of inmates and cut bail to $0 for inmates charged with low-level offenses in an effort to slim down jail populations and decrease the chances of incarcerated individuals contracting the coronavirus.
Music’s criminal history includes past convictions of felony unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle in December 2018, second-degree burglary in 2013, and second-degree burglary in 2012, the Mercury News reported.
Some local law enforcement officials have criticized the zero-bail measures.
“It’s not just risky for our citizens. It’s wrong to do to our inmates,” San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow told ABC 10. “It’s my job to keep them locked up. But I don’t have any choice in this. I’ve been ordered to do it.”
