Huntington Beach man who threatened Long Beach Marriott shooting is sentenced to 4 years

A former Long Beach Marriott hotel chef from Huntington Beach who threatened to shoot up his workplace last summer was sentenced Monday to nearly four years in state prison.

Rodolfo Montoya, 37, pleaded no contest Jan. 13 to two felony counts of making criminal threats. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Goul handed down the sentence Monday of three years and eight months, based on a plea deal negotiated with prosecutors.

The judge also told the defendant that he was banned for life from owning or possessing any firearm and warned him that if he committed another felony, he could spend 25 years to life behind bars.

Montoya told a co-worker Aug. 19 that he was going to “shoot up fellow employees and people coming into the hotel,” according to Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna. The co-worker told the hotel’s general manager, Imran Ahmed, who called police.

Montoya was arrested the following day and has remained behind bars since.

Neighbors said Rodolfo Montoya lived in this motor home in an alley along Jacquelyn Lane in Huntington Beach. Montoya was arrested in August on suspicion of threatening to carry out a mass shooting at the Long Beach Marriott hotel and pleaded no contest this month to two felony counts of making criminal threats. He was sentenced Monday.

(File Photo)

A search of Montoya’s motor home yielded tactical gear, a variety of weapons — including an assault rifle — and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, according to Luna, who said the defendant was “upset about some recent workplace activity having to do with HR [human resources].”

The chief thanked Ahmed for coming forward and alerting investigators, saying he “saved many lives, not only of your employees but any customers that may have been at the Marriott when this guy decided to show up and carry out his threat.”

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.