2 Milkmen Arrested in Assault Believed Victim Was Stealing

Two milk deliverymen were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of pummeling a 33-year-old man with a baseball bat and then ramming him with their truck before fleeing.

The Alta-Dena milkmen had suspected the man was trying to steal their milk, authorities said.

But in an interview from his hospital bed, the Mission Viejo man who was assaulted said he was simply trying to see the label on a milk bottle left at someone’s doorstep.

“I didn’t think people still deliver milk to people’s houses, so I was curious what brand it was since the truck didn’t have the brand on it,” said the man, who owns a skateboard company and lives nearby.

“I was going to order some. So I walked over to look at the top of the bottle to see what brand it was.”

The man was in fair condition Wednesday at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo with a slit upper lip, bruises on his ribs and two cuts on his head.

“I’ve got staples in my head, and I don’t know how many stitches in my mouth,” he said, asking that his name be withheld for fear of retaliation. “The sad thing is I hear about kids, gang-types, doing stuff like this all the time. But when it actually happened, it’s not kids at all. These are grown adults. They’re older than I am.”

Orange County sheriff’s officials arrested David William Lahodny, 43, and Charles Stephen Naples, 38, both of Tustin, on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon. They were being held in lieu of $50,000 bail each at Orange County Jail.

The incident occurred about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday when the two deliverymen spotted the Mission Viejo resident looking at milk bottles placed at the doorsteps of a Via Mondelo home. Assuming that he was trying to steal the milk, the deliverymen repeatedly struck the pedestrian with a baseball bat and an ax handle, Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said.

Before driving away, the milkmen drove their truck into the man, knocking him to the ground, Wilkerson said.

“There’s no indication whether the victim was or was not stealing milk,” Wilkerson said.

The Mission Viejo man said the milkmen had approached him from behind and asked if he was stealing milk. He said he told them he just wanted to know the brand name and pulled out his wallet to show he had money.

“After the first few hits--and it happened so quickly--I was sort of knocked out,” he said. “Next thing I knew I was yelling ‘Help me, help me.’ ”

Neighbors called for help and less than an hour later, police officers located the milkmen and arrested them. A baseball bat and an ax handle were recovered, deputies said.

A spokesman for Alta-Dena’s Tustin office said the company is not responsible for the actions of the two drivers, who are self-employed.

“They don’t work for the company,” the spokesman said. “They’re independent distributors.”

Former Alta-Dena customer Doris Zimmer said Wednesday she was shocked to hear about the incident. The Garden Grove woman credited Lahodny with saving her life and said the milkman she knows is “very kind.”

Lahodny was trying to collect a milk payment from Zimmer, 68, last year when he heard her yelling for help and summoned paramedics. Zimmer, who was at home alone at the time, said she had a stroke and wasn’t able to dial 911 on her own.

“I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for him,” Zimmer said. “He saved my life.”