A former Texas correctional officer was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with a fatal hit-and-run that claimed the life of a 38-year-old man last year in Riverside, authorities announced Tuesday.

The deadly crash occurred on the morning of Aug. 7, 2023, when 31-year-old Giovanni Ceja, who was driving while intoxicated on the southbound shoulder of the 215 Freeway, north of La Cadena Drive, collided with Gilberto Sotelo and his disabled truck.

Ceja, who was reportedly on vacation in Southern California at the time of the crash, immediately fled the area.

The 38-year-old victim, a resident of Lake Elsinore, had run out of gas and pulled off the freeway onto the shoulder. A relative who brought him some fuel witnessed the hit-and-run.

Sotelo was declared dead at the scene.

Ceja’s truck was found two days later at a repair facility in Riverside and was taken as evidence by the California Highway Patrol.

Authorities at the CHP later identified Ceja as the driver responsible for the collision, a news release from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office stated.

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Ceja, who is from San Antonio, Texas, and worked for the Texas county of Bexar as a sheriff’s correction corporal, was arrested by his own law enforcement agency on Aug. 14, 2023.

He was extradited by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center on Aug. 27, 2023.

On Jan. 30, officials at the Riverside County DA’s office confirmed that Ceja was sentenced to 15 years to life in jail for killing Sotelo.

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