Gang member sentenced to life in murder-for-hire of Buena Park man paroled at 39

A Pacoima gang member sentenced to life in prison for his role in the high-profile 2002 murder-for-hire of a Buena Park businessman was quietly paroled last month after nearly 18 years behind bars, the Southern California News Group has learned.

Gerardo Lopez was three months shy of 18 when he participated in the botched kidnapping of 44-year-old Buena Park businessman David Montemayor, who managed a family trucking company in the unincorporated Dominguez Hills area between Carson and Long Beach.

Lopez was tried as an adult, convicted and sentenced in 2006 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for Montemayor’s shooting death, though his role was limited to the abduction and not the killing.

In 2017, California passed a statute that retroactively eliminated life-without-parole sentences for juveniles. The new statute provided that anyone sentenced to life without parole for an offense committed before age 18 should be eligible for parole at a youth offender parole hearing during the 25th year of incarceration.

Thus, Lopez was resentenced in April 2017 to 50 years to life to permit the possibility of parole due to his age at the time of the murder.

Under another California law — Assembly Bill 1812 — enacted two years later, inmates sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as a juvenile were allowed to request a lesser sentence after serving at least 15 years. Lopez thus petitioned the court for a sentence reduction.

The bill outlined factors courts should consider when resentencing, including:

• The inmate’s disciplinary record and record of rehabilitation while incarcerated. Lopez, now 39, was incarcerated at prisons in Wasco, Corcoran, Delano and Imperial County and had two serious rule violations, said Mary Xjimenez, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
• Evidence that reflects whether age, time served and diminished physical condition have reduced the inmate’s risk for future violence.
• Evidence that reflects that circumstances have changed since the inmate’s original sentencing so that the inmate’s continued incarceration is no longer in the interest of justice.

Despite objections from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Superior Court Judge Vibhav Mittal resentenced Lopez on Aug. 16, 2024, changing his criminal conviction to juvenile adjudication and ordering his release.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer condemned the decision.

“California law has devolved to the point where there is no truth in sentencing and there are little, if any, consequences, for committing the most heinous of crimes,” Spitzer said in a statement. “This case is another painful example of how the rights of cold-blooded killers continue to take priority over the rights of victims.”

Lopez was essentially given a “get out of jail free card” without a parole board ever determining he was no longer a danger to society, Spitzer added.

Four days after he was resentenced, Lopez walked out of prison and has since self-deported to Mexico, officials said.

Montemayor’s widow, Susan Montemayor, 64, of Buena Park, said she’s disappointed Lopez has been released. “I realize there is not much I can do,” she added. “I feel a little helpless at this point.”

Five other people were convicted in the slaying of Montemayor, including his older sister, Deborah Perna of Anaheim, who initiated the kidnap plot and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Additionally, Edelmira Corona of Pico Rivera, who worked with Perna at the trucking company, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and has since been released. Three gang members — Anthony Navarro of Canyon County, Armando Macias of Lancaster and Alberto Martinez of Castaic — remain on death row.

According to prosecutors, Perna became jealous after learning that her father intended to pass control of their family company to Montemayor, whom she believed was stealing from the business.

Perna asked Corona to help her arrange Montemayor’s killing. Corona and Perna then solicited the help of Navarro, who recruited members of his San Fernando Valley gang, including Lopez, to carry out the kidnapping and killing.

Montemayor was abducted from his family’s Dominguez Hills trucking company and placed in a car by the gang members, who thought they would find a small fortune of cash stashed away in coffee cans in the garage of his Buena Park home.

However, as they were on the way, Montemayor foiled the abduction when he bolted from the car rather than lead the gang members to his home, where his wife and two children were waiting.

Macias shot Montemayor as he attempted to flee, sparking a wild police pursuit through the streets of Orange County filmed by television news helicopters. The gang members were arrested when the vehicle crashed.