Women Say They Sent Inmates Notes for Merriman

A series of young women testified at Justin Merriman’s murder trial Wednesday, admitting they had sent letters to gang members that identified witnesses whose testimony had led to his indictment two years ago.

Prosecutors maintained Merriman, 28, conspired to intimidate witnesses by using women associated with his skinhead gang to spread the word about “rats” who helped build a case against him.

Four of those women, including two teenagers nicknamed “Baby Cakes” and “Precious,” admitted in court Wednesday that they had participated in an intricate letter-writing campaign orchestrated by the defendant.

While in jail, Merriman mailed them letters and additional correspondence intended for gang members in state prison, they testified.

The women said they mailed the letters to gang members in prison, but denied having read the contents.

Merriman used the young women to avoid detection by authorities who would have flagged any outgoing mail addressed to gang members, prosecutors said.

As it turned out, investigators intercepted many of the letters before they reached state prison.

Introduced by prosecutors as evidence Wednesday, several of the letters identify rape victims and informants who wore recording devices to secretly obtain incriminating statements by Merriman about the slaying of college student Katrina Montgomery.

She disappeared from an Oxnard party in November 1992 and has never been seen again. Her blood-stained truck was found abandoned in the Angeles National Forest, but for years police were unable to crack the case.

After a lengthy investigation, a grand jury indicted Merriman in January 1999 on murder, rape and related charges. Prosecutors said Merriman sexually assaulted Montgomery at his Ventura home and cut her throat to keep her from reporting the assault to police. They are seeking the death penalty.

No physical evidence exists to prove Merriman committed murder, defense attorneys said, and they have suggested another party goer might have killed Montgomery.

In the weeks after the indictment, investigators uncovered evidence of a conspiracy to harm witnesses. They went back to the grand jury and secured indictments against Merriman, his mother and two other women.

Jennifer Wepplo, 25, and Samantha Medina, 27, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to dissuade witnesses and were sentenced to a year in jail.

Beverlee Sue Merriman, 53, pleaded not guilty but changed her plea during trial last year. She served a year in state prison and was recently paroled. She is barred from attending her son’s trial.

On Wednesday, Wepplo and Medina were called to testify against Justin Merriman. Wepplo admitted having written to four Ventura skinheads.

In one letter, she refers to witnesses in Merriman’s case as “race traitors” and “cheese-eaters,” a reference to rats. She also remarks that his gang needs a “mouse trap to catch all these rodents.”

In a second letter, Wepplo tells a skinhead incarcerated at Ironwood State Prison near Blythe that an informant who snitched on Merriman is housed at the same prison. She suggests the inmates there “get” him.

“Big Daddy Mumrock says he needs his jaw wired,” Wepplo wrote, referring to one of Merriman’s nicknames.

Testimony is scheduled to resume today in Ventura County Superior Court.