Distracted driver sentenced to jail, probation

A Meridian man was sentenced to two years of formal probation and 30 days in county jail after being found guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, according to the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office.

Jacob Daniel Correia, in February 2018, was driving west on Highway 20 on the Sutter Causeway at a high rate of speed. While distracted by his cellphone, his Ford

Expedition collided with a GMC Sierra driven by Cody Arnold, 34, of Yuba City. The collision sent Arnold’s vehicle into a farm tractor on the highway driven by Travis Perse, 25, of Sutter.

After colliding with the

Sierra, Correia swerved into the eastbound lane into oncoming traffic where he collided with a Chevrolet

S-10 driven by Jose Velazquez Guerra, 48 of Colusa. Guerra and the passenger in the car,

Deysi Reyes, 58, of Colusa were killed.

John Moell, 19, of Redding, was driving a Toyota Corolla behind the Chevrolet at the time of the accident and was unable to stop before colliding into the Chevrolet.

Correia was taken to Adventist Health/ Rideout via helicopter to be treated for his injuries.

Correia was charged with two counts of felony vehicular manslaughter, which a jury found him not guilty of. He was also charged with lesser offenses of

misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and was found guilty of both of those counts by a Sutter County Superior Court jury in October.

Correia was sentenced Monday to two years probation and 30 days in the county jail for each count, to be served concurrently.

After being initially charged with two counts of murder, along with manslaughter, Judge David Ashby dismissed the murder counts at the preliminary hearing in January due to insufficient evidence.