Kellie Montalvo does not mince words. She calls it “completely outrageous” that the woman convicted of killing her son could walk out of prison this Saturday, Valentine’s Day, after serving less than a third of a nine-year sentence. Her son, 21-year-old Benjamin Montalvo, was riding his bicycle in Corona in June 2020 when he was struck and killed, and prosecutors say the driver sped off instead of stopping.
The Montalvos say a recent letter from the state corrections department told them the driver’s earliest possible release date falls this month. Now the family is scrambling for answers about how a nine-year term appears to have shrunk so dramatically.
Neomi Renee Velado was convicted and sentenced to nine years after a 2023 trial, according to NBC Los Angeles. Prosecutors presented cellphone records and other testimony that jurors weighed before finding Velado guilty of felony vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and felony hit-and-run. They also told the court that she had multiple prior at-fault crashes tied to driver distraction…