Sheriff deputies arrested the poster child for the long-running
lawsuit against San Benito County and a former county supervisor
Sunday for being under the influence of suspected methamphetamines
and resisting arrest, according to police.
Hollister – Sheriff deputies arrested the poster child for the long-running lawsuit against San Benito County and a former county supervisor Sunday for being under the influence of suspected methamphetamines and resisting arrest, according to police.
Juan Monteon, 31, of Hollister, was arrested for the misdemeanor charges Sunday around 10am when San Benito County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a “suspicious subject who was talking to himself” in front of his home on Santa Ana Road, according to Detective Sgt. Chris Greene.
Deputies approached Monteon, who declined to comment on the incident Tuesday, and began talking to him, at which time he made some strange remarks, Greene said.
“He said, ‘No, that is going to happen to you, you are going to meet your god today and I’m going to make sure it happens,'” Greene said. He then charged the deputies, who were forced to shoot him with a Taser stun gun, Greene said.
He was subdued and taken into custody, transported to Hazel Hawkins Hospital where he was medically cleared and booked into the San Benito County Jail for the two misdemeanor charges, Greene said. He was released on his own recognizance Monday, according to jail personnel.
Monteon, who works as a bail bondsman, became involved a couple of years ago with a lawsuit against former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti, filed by controversial attorney Michael Pekin. The suit, which the anonymous group Los Valientes first backed in 2003, alleges Scagliotti used his position as supervisor for financial gain.
The Monteon lawsuit spurred a criminal indictment against Pekin that was later dismissed by a judge. District Attorney John Sarsfield also filed a pending civil lawsuit against Pekin and his associates, which does not include Monteon, claiming Pekin’s “frivolous” suits are bleeding taxpayers dry.
Sarsfield has said Monteon isn’t much of a concern to him because he’s simply a “straw plaintiff” – someone who put their name to a suit to launch it into the legal system.
Pekin was unaware that his client had been arrested Tuesday, however he said until found guilty in a court of law he’s presumed innocent. He also doesn’t believe the arrest will have any affect on the credibility or eventual outcome of his suit.
“Juan Monteon gets arrested and what does that have to do with whether or not Scagliotti did something in office?” Pekin said. “The two of them don’t relate.”
