OAKLAND — An alleged operator of a large-scale chop shop has been ordered to stand trial on charges of murdering an acquaintance as the victim sat in a stolen Lexus with his girlfriend, court records show.
Juan Montiel, 35, was held to answer on charged of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in the Dec. 30, 2024 killing of 25-year-old Kody Johnston. At the preliminary hearing last October, Johnston’s girlfriend testified the two were watching Wild ‘N Out on his phone while parked outside a friend’s house on Fleming Avenue when a man she recognized as Montiel walked up and ordered Johnston out of the car.
“Kody never had time to get out,” she testified, adding that Montiel fired a shot a few moments later. “When I heard the window crack, like break, I looked at him and said, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God, Kody.’”
Montiel had pistol-whipped Johnston in an earlier incident, after Johnston offered to do a favor for Montiel’s girlfriend, Natasha Simons, according to Johnston’s girlfriend, who described Montiel was a “bully” within their friend “circle.” The specifics of the favor weren’t disclosed at the hearing.
Days earlier, another acquaintance of the group, known as “Killer,” had stolen a truck belonging to Johnston and his girlfriend, and made up for it by giving them a Lexus that turned out to have been stolen in a carjacking, according to court records. Johnston’s girlfriend — who has several prior arrests for car theft — said at the hearing she knew the Lexus didn’t belong to “Killer.”
“That’s what we do. We all steal cars,” she said.
Montiel was arrested about a month after Johnston’s homicide, at a warehouse on the 800 block of 100th Avenue that police believe was being used to chop stolen cars and trucks for parts. Also arrested were 47-year-old Andrew Trujillo and Montiel’s girlfriend Simons. The three now face charges of possessing or receiving stolen property, and Trujillo has been charged with evading police, court records show.
During the raid, the three refused to surrender so a sheriff’s auto theft task force tear gassed them, according to court records. Inside, authorities say they found eight stolen vehicles — including a gas tanker truck — were discovered, along with body armor, weapons, and fake emergency lights that could be used to impersonate a police car. The investigation was one of several recent probes targeting chop shops, vehicle identification number switchers, and online stolen car markets around the Bay Area.
Montiel and Trujillo are both behind bars at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, with Trujillo’s bail set at $90,000 and Montiel being held without bail, records show. They’re both next due in court in January. Montiel’s trial date has not been set.
At the preliminary hearing, Montiel’s lawyer, Annie Beles, said that the prosecution was relying on a “highly motivated biased witness” with “serious credibility issues” who freely admitted that she “hates” Montiel. Judge Armando Pastran Jr. said the woman was open about her feelings toward Montiel, her “probable” methamphetamine use the day of the homicide, and her own criminal history.
“While she clearly has negative feelings toward the defendant, she as very candid in the way she testified,” Pastran said. “She never even shied away from the fact that she had been arrested for driving stolen vehicles.”