Santa Rosa gang member gets probation in attack on mother

A Santa Rosa gang member who beat his mother while he was on parole was sentenced Friday to probation and no additional jail time, in part because his mother refused to testify against him.

Giovanni Gabriel Montes, 27, was to be released from custody immediately under an agreement with prosecutors in the September attack at the family’s College Park Circle home.

Montes was alleged to have punched and kicked his 47-year-old mother and smashed a glass mug into her face, leaving her with broken bones.

He was arrested the next day after the injured woman’s daughter came to visit and reported the incident to police.

But the mother, who had to be hospitalized, refused to testify at a preliminary hearing, undermining the case, prosecutor Jason Riehl said in court.

Montes accepted a prosecution offer to settle without further jail time and attend domestic violence classes while serving three years’ probation.

“This was a very violent attack by an individual with a very violent history,” Riehl said.

Judge Virginia Marcoida ordered Montes to be released Friday. He had been in jail since late September.

The ex-convict served time for robbery. At the time of the attack, he was on parole with requirements to live in San Mateo County and possess no gang paraphernalia.

A search of his family’s Santa Rosa home where he was living turned up gang items in his bedroom, police said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@ppayne.