Dixon man charged with attacking, injuring Ogle County deputies

OREGON – Bond was reduced Monday for a 46-year-old Dixon man who the Ogle County sheriff said attacked three deputies, breaking some bones, and who had to be subdued with a stun gun.

Jamin M. Soria, until recently a corrections officer at Dixon Correctional Center, was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to an officer causing great bodily harm, four counts of aggravated battery to a police officer, trespass to a residence and misdemeanor domestic battery.

“I do have a deputy that’s going to be out for at least eight weeks,” Sheriff Brian VanVickle said.

That deputy has a broken knee and a broken hand after Soria “repeatedly leg-locked, grabbed and wrestled” with him, and shoved or grabbed the other two, according to the charging document.

One has a strained knee, VanVickle said.

Battery causing great bodily harm is punishable by four to 15 years in prison; the other battery charges carry three to seven years each.

According to a news release from VanVickle, the deputies responded about 11:20 a.m. July 22 to the 2600 block of South Galena Trail Road in rural Polo for a report of an unwanted person, who turned out to be Soria.

They told him he needed to leave or be arrested for trespassing, and he attacked them, according to the release.

Soria was stunned twice and eventually subdued. He and the deputies were treated at KSB Hospital in Dixon, Soria for minor injuries, according to the release and to testimony Monday in Ogle County Court.

Bond originally was set at $150,000, but Soria’s attorney, Eric Arnquist of Rochelle, argued for a lower bond, and Judge Anthony Peska reduced it to $100,000, which means Soria must post $10,000 cash to be released.

Soria, who has no criminal history, told Peska that he was a corrections officer for the Illinois Department of Corrections at Dixon prison before leaving that position in February and that he has post traumatic stress disorder in part as a result of his job.

He also said in court that he was a victim of sex abuse as a child and that he was assigned to the prison’s “X House,” which houses inmates with psychiatric disorders.

He lost medical insurance when his job ended.

“I left because I didn’t think I could do the job any longer,” he said, noting he was on disability before his insurance was terminated.

He said he would be willing to undergo treatment and was seeking a second opinion from a physician when his insurance ended.

“I’ve had no income since March,” he told Peska.

In arguing for the bond reduction, Arnquist said Soria has “serious mental health issues” and needs treatment.

“I am not going to minimize the seriousness of these charges, but it could have been much worse,” Arnquist said. “He needs mental health treatment in part due to the sexual assault and his work as a prison officer. He’s not a danger to the community. He had a dissociative break related to his job as a prison guard. He has no criminal background.”

Also, Soria has lived in either Ogle or Lee County his entire life and is not a flight risk, Arnquist said.

As a precaution, Soria’s mother already gave his firearms, including shotguns and an AR-15, to Dixon police, Arnquist added.

In arguing against the reduction, Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Leisten said Soria was released from KSB last week, and when he was asked by other court-related officials whether he was on any medication for his mental health, he gave conflicting information.

Soria told the deputies he fought with that he had “multiple identities,” the prosecutor said.

Leisten also said Soria was a trained mixed martial arts fighter who used leg locks during the fight, breaking the officer’s hand and knee after a stun gun was used on him.

“He is an extremely dangerous person due to his training and because of having a possible psychotic episode,” Leisten said. “He clearly cannot live on his own, and it is unclear if he is on any medications.”

Soria scored as a “low risk” on the bond assessment, the judge said, but he disagreed with Arnquist’s assertion that he was not dangerous.

“You say there is no public risk, but I think there are probably three officers that disagree,” Peska said. “He has had an abrupt change … these are extremely serious charges.”

Soria is scheduled to appear in court again at 10 a.m. Aug. 16.