Man pleads guilty in stabbing: Judge sentences 
Sterling resident 
to jail, probation

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MORRISON – A Sterling man charged with stabbing a then-17-year-old Sterling youth in August pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced to 30 months’ probation and 180 days in jail.

Set to go to trial Tuesday, Mariano G. Arellano, 26, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped felony charges of armed violence, mob action, and obstructing justice, as well as a misdemeanor charge of aggravated battery.

He was given credit for time served in the Whiteside County Jail since his arrest in August, court records show.

According to police, Arellano stabbed the teen with a 3-inch pocketknife during a gang-related fight that broke out Aug. 15 near the intersection of Fifth Street and Avenue K in Sterling.

Arellano’s co-defendant, Juan P. Amezola, 29, of Sterling, was sentenced to 30 months’ probation and 180 days of jail time in February for aggravated battery, mob action and obstructing justice.

As part of the sentence, both men are prohibited from affiliating with gangs.

In 2003, Arellano was sentenced to boot camp for aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle.