OAKLAND — Juan Montiel told his probation officer he was working as a mechanic at an autobody shop on Pippen Street, and sometimes slept there because he lacked stable housing, court records show.
But police say Montiel, 34, was regularly spotted at a much less reputable business. Namely, the headquarters for a sophisticated car theft ring and chop shop where eight stolen vehicles — including a gas tanker truck — were discovered with body armor, weapons, and fake police lights that could be used to impersonate a cop car.
But now Alameda County prosecutors claim Montiel is the man who shot and killed an Alameda resident on Dec. 30, a homicide that police say is directly connected to an earlier armed carjacking. The victim, Kody Johnston, 25, was reportedly upset that his friend’s car and purse were stolen weeks earlier, and had helped her track the vehicle down when Montiel allegedly intervened and killed him.
Oakland quickly identified Montiel as a suspect, but Alameda County Sheriff’s investigators were working on their own separate case involving the suspected chop shop. The sheriff’s investigated culminated with a Jan. 31 raid on a warehouse on the 800 block of 100th Avenue, where authorities say they found all the tools of the trade of a car theft ring, along with evidence that vehicles were being stripped on site.
Montiel was arrested during the raid, but he and three other suspects didn’t go down easy. Police say they barricaded themselves inside and only gave up after the sheriff’s squad used tear gas to get inside.
Once Montiel was arrested, police swabbed his DNA. He wasn’t charged until four days later, and he remains jailed without bail, records show.
Montiel has a prior conviction for negligently discharging a gun, and was wanted for allegedly violating his probation, court records show. A probation officer’s report says he failed to show up to meetings twice in September and October, and on Jan. 9 a judge issued a $20,000 warrant for his arrest.
The leadup to Johnston’s homicide occurred on Dec. 22, when his friend was carjacked in another part of Oakland. Police say the suspect was a man who pointed a gun at her and took her purse and the keys to her Lexus, authorities said.
Police say the victim sought Johnston’s help and he came through for her, helping her track down the Lexus and take it back. The two were inside the Lexus — parked on the 4300 block of Fleming Avenue in Oakland at around 9 p.m. Dec. 30 — when Montiel allegedly walked up and ordered Johnston out of the car.
When Johnston refused, Montiel fired a handgun at least once from a short distance away, killing him. At Johnston’s January funeral, loved ones remembered him as a loyal and caring person who was often willing to lend a hand.
“Kody had a smile and a laugh that was infectious,” literature distributed at his memorial service says. “His hugs always made you realize just how much he loved you. It was hard not to be happy around him.”