Warrant targeted teen before crash

LOS ANGELES - Records show an arrest warrant was issued a week after a teen escaped from a juvenile-justice facility - a disclosure that sheds some light on concerns that he might have slipped through the cracks before his arrest in a Nevada drunken-driving crash that killed five family members.

The warrant for Jean Ervin Soriano, 18, was issued on March 8 by the Orange County sheriff’s office, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday, citing sheriff’s office records. Before his escape, Soriano was being held at the Youth Guidance Center in Santa Ana, Calif., an 80-bed, unguarded facility for low-level offenders operated by the Orange County Probation Department.

It was unclear whether authorities had been searching for Soriano before the Saturday collision on a freeway outside of Las Vegas, and why it took a week to have the warrant issued.

Gail Krause, a sheriff’s office spokesman, said Thursday that the agency hadn’t been asked to help look for Soriano. A phone message left for her Friday by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

Todd Spitzer, a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, has sent a list of questions to probation officials to find out how Soriano’s case was handled. He wants to know what attempts were made to find him after the escape and the protocol when such situations occur.

Three brothers, one of their wives and a girl were killed.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 04/06/2013

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