Former Dixon prison officer pleads not guilty to attack in rural Polo

OREGON – A Dixon man and former correctional officer accused of attacking three Ogle County deputies, breaking some bones, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to seven felony counts and a misdemeanor.

Jamin M. Soria, 46, who until recently was a corrections officer at Dixon Correctional Center, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery to an officer causing great bodily harm, four counts of aggravated battery to an officer, and a new charge of criminal damage to state supported property, all felonies.

Soria, who has mixed martial arts training, is accused in the new charge of damaging a deputy’s radio.

A misdemeanor domestic battery charge was dropped, and a felony trespassing charge was reduced to a misdemeanor in the amended information, which was filed Aug. 9 in Ogle County Court.

Battery causing great bodily harm is punishable by four to 15 years in prison, the other battery charges carry three to seven years each, and criminal trespass is punishable by one to four years.

The three 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, Sheriff Brian VanVickle said in a news release at the time.

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

Before being subdued with a stun gun, Soria “repeatedly leg-locked, grabbed and wrestled” one deputy, breaking his knee and hand, and shoved or grabbed the other two, according to the information.

At a bond reduction hearing on July 31, Soria told Judge Anthony Peska that he was a victim of childhood sex abuse and that he developed post traumatic stress disorder in part as a result of his job. Before he quit in February, he was assigned to the prison’s “X House,” which houses inmates with psychiatric disorders, he said.

His attorney, Eric Arnquist of Rochelle, also told Peska that Soria has “serious mental health issues” and that he had a dissociative break related to his job.

Wednesday, Soria told Judge John Redington that he is seeking treatment for his PTSD.

“I am in the process of trying to get him into an inpatient program,” Arnquist said, asking Redington for flexibility in scheduling the next court hearing if he should find such a program.

Redington set Soria’s next court appearance for 1 p.m. Sept. 27.

“Obviously, if something comes up before then, your attorney will contact me and we will get you in,” Redington told him.

Soria remains in Ogle County jail on $100,000 bond, which was reduced from $150,000.