A convicted felon accused of hitting a woman crossing a Moreno Valley intersection, then fleeing the scene, was charged Thursday with hit-and-run resulting in death.
Phillip Jermaine Jones, 63, is accused in the death of Amber Alvarez, 36, of Moreno Valley, who was struck about 7:15 p.m. Monday while crossing the intersection of Cottonwood Avenue and the Old 215 Frontage Road.
Along with the hit-and-run count, Jones is charged with being an unlicensed operator of a motor vehicle and a sentence-enhancing allegation of fleeing the scene of a deadly accident.
The defendant, who is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, is slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
According to Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Gil Gonzalez, deputies arrived moments after the hit-and-run and found the victim lying in the street, unconscious. She was taken to nearby Riverside University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Investigators, relying on eyewitness descriptions and other evidence collected at the scene, quickly identified the alleged hit-and-run driver as Jones, who was located in the area within an hour and arrested without a struggle, according to the sergeant.
According to court records, the defendant has prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, forgery and driving on a suspended license.
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