Drunk Driver Gets 22 Years in Fatal Crash
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POMONA — A drunk driver who killed two teenage companions in a truck crash in the Angeles National Forest last summer was sentenced Monday to 22 years in prison.
James Casteneda, 20, of Temple City was convicted June 11 on two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
He received 21 years for manslaughter and another year for a probation violation from Pomona Superior Court Judge J. Gordon McNulty, the district attorney’s office said.
Police said Casteneda had a blood-alcohol level of 0.159%--virtually twice the level of presumed intoxication--when his pickup truck skidded off California 39, tumbled down an embankment and plunged into the Morris Dam Reservoir five miles north of Azusa on Aug. 30, 1998.
Arnoldo Moreno, 18, and Anthony Gonzales, 16, both members of the San Gabriel High School football team--drowned in about 20 feet of water, investigators said.
Casteneda, who suffered head cuts in the crash, was able to swim to shore.
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