Minuteman Member Pleads Not Guilty In Day Laborers Incident

POSTED: 8:25 am PDT April 13, 2007
UPDATED: 8:55 am PDT April 13, 2007

SAN DIEGO -- A member of the Minuteman Project will be back in court May 14 after pleading not guilty to nine misdemeanor counts, including battery and interfering with the civil rights of two day laborers -- one of whom he is accused of punching.

John Matthew Monti, 36, entered his plea Thursday, said Deputy City Attorney Lea Fields.

The charges against Monti stem from an incident last Nov. 18 in Rancho Penasquitos, where day laborers often gather to find jobs.

Monti is charged with four counts each of battery and interference with civil rights and one count of filing a false crime report.

According to a criminal complaint, Monti, a member of the Minutemen, a private group that monitors the flow of illegal immigrants across the border, began taking photographs of the workers while yelling epithets at them.

Monti allegedly began punching one of the victims, Estanislao Gonzales, who tried to walk away because the defendant was sticking his camera in his face, according to the complaint.

When Roberto Pena tried to help Gonzales, who is described in court papers as being disabled, he, too, was assaulted by Monti, prosecutors allege.

Immediately afterward, Monti contacted police, claiming he had been robbed and assaulted by six to eight migrant workers, prosecutors said.

http://www.10news.com/news/11826307/detail.html
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Other threads related to Monti. Kind of confusing or maybe I'm too tired.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... john+monti

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... john+monti