JC Martinez of Orange, Calif., is emotional as she delivers three sunflowers Monday, Nov. 3, 2014, to the site where twins Lexi and Lexandra Perez Huerta and Andrea Gonzalez died after being stuck in a crosswalk by a hit-and-run driver on Halloween.SANTA ANA, Calif. – Prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against a driver accused of fleeing in his SUV after fatally striking three Southern California teenage girls as they were trick-or-treating on Halloween.
Jaquinn Bell, 31, was charged with three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, one felony count of hit-and-run with permanent injury or death and one misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended license, the Orange County district attorney’s office said.
Bell, who recently pleaded guilty to a separate hit-and-run, was scheduled for arraignment later in the day but it was postponed to Dec. 16 and he was ordered held on more than $1 million bail. If convicted, he faces up to 17 years in state prison.
The complaint also included sentencing enhancement allegations of personally inflicting great bodily injury and fleeing the scene after committing a vehicular manslaughter.
The victims of the Halloween night crash in the city of Santa Ana were twin sisters Lexi and Lexandra Perez and a friend, Andrea Gonzalez, all 13 years old.