LOS ANGELES — A Richmond man sentenced to life in a psychiatric hospital for a brutal 2009 random murder was back behind bars this week after police arrested him for robbing a rehabilitation center and spending a month in court. I’m back. Records show.
Michael Villalobos, 41, was wanted on Aug. 21 after fleeing a mental health rehabilitation center in Los Angeles. He was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on September 23 and extradited to Contra Costa County, where prosecutors will again try to persuade a judge to keep Villalobos in a locked facility, but the court has not heard that. I couldn’t. Records show it dates back to May.
In 2009, Villalobos bludgeoned 79-year-old Euvaldo Cisneros to death after passing him on the sidewalk. Police said at the time that the two men did not know each other and there was no clear motive for the murder. Villalobos later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, but in a prior arrangement with prosecutors, he was acquitted by reason of insanity and received psychiatric treatment in lieu of prison.
At sentencing, prosecutors warned that Villalobos was a danger to others if he was not on his medication and that he had been convicted of multiple assault charges before the murder.
Authorities say Villalobos has spent the past 18 years in various mental health facilities, most recently based in Los Angeles’ Hover Street neighborhood.
Back in May, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Julia Campins denied the prosecution’s motion to transfer him from the facility to Napa State Hospital. Napa State Hospital is a locked facility that routinely houses people with mental illnesses. Campins came under fire last year for a similar situation in which a man who was holding a Lafayette family hostage fled transitional housing after a judge granted him a mental health diversion program over the objections of prosecutors. Ta.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office is updating its complaint in light of Villalobos’ alleged escape attempt. His next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
First published: October 1, 2024 at 5:28 p.m.
