Son’s Killer Out After 25% of Sentence Served
By PAUL J. YOUNG
City News Service
CORONA (CNS) – A Corona mom whose youngest son was fatally struck by a distracted driver possibly under the influence as he bicycled with friends was struggling Monday to understand how the defendant will be released from prison next month after serving barely a quarter of her sentence, calling it an injustice that demands a change in state law.
“It’s like we’re being re-victimized all over again,” Kathleen Montalvo told City News Service. “The pain of what happened is still there. How did she obtain parole after a quarter of her sentence? I promise you, she didn’t get rehabilitated in that time.”
The woman’s son, 20-year-old Benjamin Jorge Montalvo, was killed by Neomi Renee Velado, 28, in June 2020.
Three years later, Velado was convicted by a Riverside jury of gross vehicular manslaughter with negligence, hit-and-run resulting in death and sentence-enhancing allegations of fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run and causing permanent injury or death due to a hit-and-run. In July 2023, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Matthew Perantoni imposed a sentence of nine years.
Velado was incarcerated at a state correctional facility several weeks later. Within months of her incarceration, she applied for and was accepted into a Cal Fire inmate camp to work on a hand crew assigned to Malibu, according to the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation. Officials confirmed that Velado had been granted early release in mid February.
“I wish CDCR would be more transparent about how her credits for parole were calculated,” Kathy Montalvo said. “We feel like, at least after nine years, there is some measure of justice. So what kind of preferential treatment is she getting? We can’t get an answer.”
The retired Corona-Norco Unified School District elementary school teacher described her son’s death as an act caused by a person without scruples and no comprehension of the harm she’s inflicted.
Benjamin Montalvo was bicycling with two friends between 11:30 and 11:50 p.m. June 11, 2020, heading to the campus of Centennial High School — from which he and the other young men had graduated several years earlier — to meet the victim’s older brother. The late-night rendezvous occurred during Montalvo’s break from work, and the group intended to grab some food.
As Montalvo and one of the other cyclists turned onto Rimpau Avenue from Magnolia Avenue in Corona, Velado plowed into the victim from behind, hurling him over her Honda sedan and onto the street, according to police. She never stopped, racing to another intersection a block away and going around vehicles waiting at a red light.
Trial evidence showed the defendant had been texting her boyfriend, likely even at the time of the hit-and-run. The text string continued until she reached her apartment sometime after midnight, with her boyfriend accusing her of drunkenness and expressing his displeasure after Velado mentioned having had a “tall one,” which the defense portrayed as drinking tea, at her mother’s residence in Corona, according to testimony.
“A witness who had been driving behind her on Interstate 15 said Velado almost weaved into her on the freeway,” Kathy Montalvo recalled. “When they both exited I-15 at Magnolia, she almost hit the witness again.”
Ben Montalvo died at the scene. Velado claimed to have no memory of events, only that she believed she’d “hit something,” according to testimony. The defendant took her damaged car to a repair shop the following morning to replace her broken windshield. She went on to work her nighttime shift at a Corona motel, which in a strange twist happened to be the very one some of Montalvo’s relatives from Michigan began calling to make reservations ahead of the victim’s funeral.
Velado fielded at least one of the calls, after which she spoke with her mother and decided to turn herself into police. Blood tests to detect alcohol or drug impairment yielded no clues, though it was almost two days after the deadly hit-and-run.
“One of the detectives said that after they impounded her car, they found a jar of marijuana just sitting there,” Montalvo said. “Within 10 hours of her bailing out of jail, she and her boyfriend went to Vegas. They took pictures there, celebrating. That came out in court.”
Velado had two prior lawbreaking episodes, also revealed during trial proceedings. Both involved property damage while driving. She was either still enrolled or had just completed traffic school in connection with one of the violations when Ben Montalvo was killed.
Inquiries about the defendant’s parole credits led to confirmation that for every one day serving in an inmate fire camp, the prisoner receives two days toward parole. However, even if that time is factored, it doesn’t net sufficient credit to reach the halfway mark for early release.
CDCR spokesperson Terri Hardy told CNS the 1977 California Information Practices Act prevents the agency from releasing specifics about credits. But the act points to privacy protections for personal information related to Social Security numbers, relatives, healthcare decisions and finances. Agencies are given latitude to set their own parameters. CDCR has not provided a disclosure on exactly why Velado’s credits can’t be specified.
The matter is in stark contrast to sentencing credits, all of which are disclosed in open court under state Penal Code section 4019.
Her son’s case spurred Kathy Montalvo to start the Inland Empire chapter of Streets Are For Everyone — SAFE — sponsoring or supporting legislation that enhances protections for pedestrians, bicyclists and others. Montalvo said she now also sees the need for a change in state law to designate fatal hit-and-runs as “violent crimes,” requiring defendants to serve a minimum 80% of their sentences prior to qualifying for parole.
“Vehicular manslaughter should be deemed a violent crime,” Montalvo said. “That’s a top priority for our campaign.”
More information is available at https://www.safe-ie.org/.
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