Lodi’s Juggalo ties

A 21-year-old man who was arrested on attempted murder charges after trying to kill an acquaintance with a knife and skateboard in a Lodi vineyard this past February is a Juggalo, a Stockton Police Detective said in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Monday.

John Guererro was arrested in February after his victim, stabbed and wounded,  escaped his attack and burst into a home south of Lodi on Highway 99 asking for help. Read Lodi News-Sentinel reporter Layla Bohm’s story on Guererro’s arrest by clicking here.

(UPDATE: Guererro is serving five years on a plea deal)

On Monday, during the pretrial hearing for another man, Chad Campbell, 21, Stockton Police Detective Robert Johnson testified that Guererro is a member of an emerging street gang known as the Juggalos. Johnson was called in the Campbell case as an expert witness on Juggalos and their subculture. Deputy District Attorney Mark Ott was attempting to prove that Campbell was a  Juggalo, and his attack on 21-year-old Tommy Painter with a hatchet was gang related. A judge ruled the Campbell case was not gang related.

During Johnson’s testimony, however, he revealed that he has contacted Guererro in jail and talked to him about being a Juggalo. This was brouight up by Ott to inform the court that there may be a pattern of Juggalo-related crime occuring in San Joaquin County. Johnson said he has learned that the attempted murder in that Lodi vineyard was a Juggalo-ordered hit. Johnson has identified 40 people who consider themselves Juggalo members in San Joaquin County, he said.

A Juggalo is a follower of the Detroit-based musical group, the Insane Clown Posse. The group is known for deathly violent lyrics, and the make-up they wear to look like sinister clowns. ICP, as the band is commonly referred, was spawned because its frontmen were picked on in high school. They were tired of being disrespected, and decided they would become violent and edgy, Johnson said in court.

“The music is very violent and vulgar…about assault, and that you don’t dissrespect them,” Johnson said.

Juggalos usually wear a tattoo or symbol related to ICP. Campbell for example, has a tattoo of the hatchet man on his arm. The hatchet man is the logo for Psychopathic Records, the lable that publishes ICP albums.

I won’t post them here, but Google Insane Clown Posse lyrics if you want to see what this group sings about.

According to Johnson, stabbing somebody and beating them with a skateboard fits in well with the theme, as does using a hatchet.