Inmate Sentenced In Beating Death of Rancho Santa Margarita Man

The case of mistaken identity that ended the life of John Chamberlain took another toll this week when an eighth inmate at the Theo Lacy Facility was sentenced for his role in the brutal attack on the Rancho Santa Margarita software engineer.

Stephen Paul Carlstrom, 44, of Anaheim was found guilty by a jury Oct. 25, 2011, of one felony count of second degree murder and was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years to life in state prison.

Co-defendant Raul Villafana, 25, of Santa Ana was also found guilty of the same crime and faces the same sentence when he appears before the court on April 13 in Department C-35, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

Six co-defendants have been already convicted and sentenced in this case.

• Garrett Eugene Aguilar, 30, of Anaheim and Jared Louis Petrovich, 28, of Tustin were found guilty by a jury on Oct. 25 of one felony count of second degree murder. They were each sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison on Jan. 27.
• Miguel Guillen, 49, of Santa Ana was also found guilty by a jury Oct. 25 of one felony count of second degree murder. He has two prior strike convictions for assault with a deadly weapon from 1993. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in state prison on Dec. 2.
• Michael Stewart Garten, 26, of Santa Ana pleaded guilty Jan. 11, 2011, to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in state prison.
• Christopher Teague, 35, of Long Beach and Jeremy Dezso Culmann, 28, of Corona, pleaded guilty Jan. 18, 2011, to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter and were each sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

Co-defendant Eric Charles Miller, 26, of Huntington Beach is charged with one felony count of murder and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison if convicted. Miller is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing April 20 at 9 a.m. in Department C-35.

According to the district attorney's office, Petrovich was the “shot-caller” for the Caucasian prison-controlled gangs barracks where he was housed at Theo Lacy in October of 2006. Aguilar and Carlstrom were the second and third in command, respectively.

According to the Special Criminal Grand Jury report, a shot caller was routinely used by guards to enforce discipline or inflict punishment within the barracks; shot callers are against OCSD policy.

According to jail records, Chamberlain had been advised not to discuss the charges against him.

Villafana was the “shot-caller” for one of the Hispanic prison-controlled gangs in the same barracks and Guillen was his third in command.

While incarcerated at Theo Lacy, Carlstrom confronted inmate John Derek Chamberlain to determine for what charges Chamberlain was incarcerated. Chamberlain was in custody on two charges of misdemeanor possession of child pornography. He had pleaded not guilty on Sept. 25, and was scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 10, 2006. He was transported from the Orange County men's jail to the Theo Lacy facility on Oct. 3.

The inmates targeted Chamberlain because they believed he was a child molester. After questioning the victim, Carlstrom reported back to Petrovich.

Petrovich met with Villafana and the two decided that Chamberlain should be sexually assaulted and beaten. Petrovich informed other inmates that Chamberlain was a child molester and authorized the Caucasian inmates to assault him.

Villafana authorized the Hispanic inmates to assault him. Both defendants offered an incentive for inmates by offering 10 commissary items to any inmate who participated in the sexual assault of Chamberlain.

On Oct. 5, 2006, Carlstrom and Aguilar led Chamberlain—who was 5 feet 4 inches and 170 pounds—into a cube inside the barracks that was out of sight from Orange County Sheriff’s deputies.

The inmates proceeded to violently attack the victim. Petrovich was one of the first to participate and punched Chamberlain at least one time. Villafana and Guillen punched and kicked the victim. Carlstrom kicked, punched, and stomped on the victim. Aguilar punched, kicked, and stomped on the victim and anally penetrated him with a pencil. The other convicted defendants also participated in the attack.

In between assaulting the victim, Aguilar walked out of the barracks to brag to other inmates about beating Chamberlain and then returned to the barracks to continue his assault. After the attack, Aguilar and co-defendant Teague shook hands and congratulated themselves, causing Aguilar to wince in pain from hurting his hand by hitting Chamberlain with so much force. Teague responded by telling Aguilar that that’s why he used his feet instead of his fists.

In addition to the extreme physical beating of Chamberlain, evidence was presented during trial to show that he had also been anally penetrated with a spoon and toothpaste tube.

Chamberlain was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead due to respiratory arrest from his broken ribs. The victim sustained 43 breaks to his ribs, fractures and contusions all over his body and face, and a doctor testified during the trial that every single organ in Chamberlain’s body had injuries.

A Special Criminal Grand Jury (SCGJ) was empanelled in May 2007, at the request of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to investigate Chamberlain’s death. The full report detailing the findings of the SCGJ was released by the OCDA on April 7, 2008. (To view this report, please visit the OCDA website at orangecountyda.com and select Reports from the “DA Office” pull-down menu.)

Senior Deputy District Attorneys Ebrahim Baytieh and Keith Bogardus of the Homicide Unit are prosecuting all of the defendants in this case.