Competency hearing scheduled for alleged hammer attacker
January 13, 2017
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A competency hearing has been ordered for the suspect who allegedly wielded a hammer to viciously attack a Santa Paula man in December.
Pacheco Luis Montalvo, 44, was to appear in court January 5 on pre-trial matters in the December 3 attack on Tim Mason, 70, a retired pilot and lifelong resident of Santa Paula.
Mason was left in critical condition after allegedly being attacked by Montalvo, an Oxnard transient, mid-morning in the 100 block of Wakeford Avenue. Montalvo was reportedly working on a friend’s car and Mason was nearby. The two men did not know each other.
Police said the attack appears to have been unprovoked.
“We have no idea,” Sgt. Cody Madison said at the time, “what the incident stemmed from.
He said the victim and the suspect, “Didn’t know each other, they weren’t friends, and we don’t know what prompted this whole thing.”
Mason, whose family has been involved in aviation and the Santa Paula Airport for generations, was reportedly getting recyclables out of the trunk of his vehicle when he was struck from behind.
When SPPD Officers arrived on the scene they found Mason in the driveway, unconscious but moaning in pain from several lacerations to his head.
One of the witnesses pointed out the suspect, Montalvo, who was still in the area. Officers contacted Montalvo and he was taken into custody without incident. The hammer used by the suspect was located in the front yard of a nearby residence.
Mason underwent emergency surgery and was in a medically induced coma at Ventura County Medical Center before he started to recover from the severe injuries.
Montalvo, who in the weeks leading up to the incident reportedly had entered several businesses asking for money, did not cooperate with investigators.
Montalvo remains in Ventura County Main Jail in Ventura charged with attempted murder, use of a deadly weapon, great bodily injury to a senior over 70 years old, elder abuse, enhancements related to prior serious or violent felonies that, if convicted, would make Montalvo subject to the Third Strike law.
Court records did not include priors for Montalvo committed in Ventura County but he had previously been an East Coast resident.
The competency hearing for Montalvo is scheduled for February 9, 9 a.m. at Ventura County Superior Courtroom 12.
If anyone witnessed the December 3 incident or has further information on the attack they are asked to contact Detective Randy Haumann at (805) 525-4474 x 211 or at rhaumann@spcity.org
Information can be given anonymously.
