Inmate who ran from Sacramento reentry program turns herself in — 400 miles away

A woman who walked away from a Sacramento County reentry program over the weekend turned herself in Monday morning — at a state prison facility nearly 400 miles south.

Serena Moreno-Carrera, 25, reported to the California Institution for Women in Corona shortly after 1:20 a.m., according to a release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The facility is located southeast of Chino, a more than six-hour drive from the Sacramento-area site she left.

CDCR officials said Moreno-Carrera voluntarily surrendered. The agency did not provide details on how she traveled from Sacramento to Southern California or what prompted her to turn herself in.

Moreno-Carrera disappeared from a Female Community Reentry Program site in Sacramento County on Saturday morning. Authorities said she apparently tampered with her ankle monitor before leaving the residential facility, which serves incarcerated women with less than two years left on their sentences.

She had been serving an eight-year, eight-month term for mayhem, vandalism, vehicle theft and hit-and-run causing injury. Originally received from Yolo County in 2021, she was participating in a voluntary reentry initiative aimed at helping eligible individuals transition back into the community.

The program provides access to housing, mental health care, substance use treatment and other rehabilitative services. Despite the walkaway, CDCR said nearly all who leave such programs without permission are eventually apprehended — a rate of 99% since 1977, officials touted in the news release.

Officials have not disclosed whether she will face additional penalties. CDCR said the incident remains under review.