Driver Charged In Perris Teen's ATV Death Ordered To Stand Trial

MEAD VALLEY, CA — An unlicensed driver accused of fatally hitting a 17-year-old boy on an ATV in Mead Valley, then fleeing the scene, must stand trial for vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and other offenses, a judge ruled Thursday.

Froylan Franco Arqueta, 56, of Perris was arrested last April following a California Highway Patrol investigation into the death of Axel Perez of Perris.

At the end of a preliminary hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mac Fisher found there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial on the manslaughter count, as well as hit-and-run resulting in property damage and being an unlicensed operator of a motor vehicle, with a sentence-enhancing allegation of fleeing a deadly collision.

The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for March 18 and left Arqueta's bail set at $85,000. The defendant is being held at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.

According to CHP Officer Juan Quintero, about 8 p.m. on April 1, Arqueta allegedly hit several objects outside a residence in the area of Myron and Mead streets, then sped off.

Moments later, while racing away from the initial hit-and-run, the defendant smashed into Perez's quad, which resembles a dune buggy, in the 20700 block of Myron, and kept going, Quintero alleged.

The teen was killed on impact.

Arqueta could not be located by CHP officers or Riverside County sheriff's deputies, who conducted a sweep of the area, according to the CHP spokesman. But sufficient evidence was left behind to identify the defendant's vehicle, and he was summoned the next day to the Riverside CHP office, where he was interviewed and taken into custody without incident, Quintero said.

Court records show that Arqueta has prior misdemeanor convictions for driving under the influence and driving without a license.