A convicted sex offender accused of threatening two people with a knife while trying to steal their car in Temescal Valley was charged Friday with attempted carjacking and other offenses.
Aaron Matthew Holcomb, 33, of Corona was arrested Wednesday following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
Along with the attempted carjacking count, Holcomb is charged with two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and brandishing a knife not in self defense, as well as sentence-enhancing allegations of committing a felony while on bail and being a convicted felon engaging in violent conduct.
Holcomb, who is being held in lieu of $60,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail, was slated to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
According to the sheriff’s department, shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, the defendant confronted two people, whose identities were not disclosed, in the 8900 block of Cajalco Road, just east of Interstate 15.
The agency alleged that Holcomb pulled a knife and tried to force the victims to surrender their vehicle to him.
Witnesses called 911, and nearby patrol deputies were able to “quickly intervene and … disarm the suspect,” according to a sheriff’s statement.
He was taken into custody without further incident. The victims were not injured.
According to court documents, Holcomb has prior convictions for possession of child pornography, failing to register as a convicted sex offender and possession of controlled substances.
He has multiple unresolved cases pending adjudication, all of them drug-related.