PORT HUENEME : Inmate Sentenced in 1988 Prison Slaying

An inmate convicted of slaying a former Ventura County man during a 1988 rampage at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Fernando Perez Bustillo, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer in Los Angeles after he was convicted in the stabbing death of Von Allen Gilmore, Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles L. Kreindler said.

Gilmore, who was serving a 10-year sentence for assault after stabbing his wife in the back with a penknife, had been a lifelong Port Hueneme resident.

The rampage that led to his slaying was motivated by Bustillo’s longstanding hatred of homosexuals, Kreindler said.

On the morning of July 29, 1988, Bustillo armed himself with a prison-made knife and a wooden toilet seat cover converted into a shield, and set out to attack two homosexuals he had argued with the night before.

Bustillo charged into the cell of the first man, began stabbing him, and then fled, the prosecutor said.

In his search for the second man, Bustillo encountered Gilmore, who tried to disarm him, Kreindler said. Bustillo plunged his knife into Gilmore’s heart during the struggle, killing him instantly, he said.

Bustillo, who was serving an eight-year sentence for counterfeiting $50 bills, said a prison guard had given him the knife, Kreindler said.