The mentally ill homeless man who stands accused of killing a 74-year-old woman at the Powell Street BART Station in July remains hospitalized and has not entered a plea. And now the Chronicle has dug into this criminal record, which is extensive.
49-year-old Trevor Belmont, aka Hoak Taing, seems likely to become the next case study for the cause of conservatorship. And while his record in the criminal justice system around the Bay Area may not have pointed directly to homicide, it certainly looks like the record of someone who had been failed by the system, and who years ago should have been compelled into mental health treatment.
Belmont is accused of shoving 74-year-old Corazon Dandan, a longtime employee of the Westin St. Francis Hotel, to her death in front of an oncoming BART train on July 1. Prosecutors say that Belmont — whose alleged act was witnessed by multiple bystanders and caught on surveillance cameras — "surreptitiously" approached Dandan from behind and "Just as the train got close enough, he full-force shoved Ms. Dandan into its path, using both hands … and sending her flying into the oncoming train." Dandan was struck in the head and sent flying back onto the platform. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
As the Chronicle reports, Belmont's record includes multiple contacts with BART police and other law enforcement agencies around the Bay Area, and he had even been ordered by a judge in 2018 to stay away from all BART trains and stations for a period of three years over a lewd conduct charge — an order that he violated almost immediately. He was subsequently arrested for "swinging his closed fists at BART patrons on the platform of the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station" in 2018, after which he was cited and released.
His first known conctact with the SFPD was in 2007, and his history of violence led to multiple stay-away orders, including an order that he stay away from all schools in California. He was convicted in 2013 of assault and battery on a member of the SF State community, after which he was ordered to stay away from that campus.
The following year a judge issued a stay away order to Belmont for St. Monica’s Catholic School, for unspecified reasons in the record.
In total, the Chronicle found that Belmont has 27 arrests on his record over the course of 17 years.
Belmont's contacts with BART police are likely to become evidence in a court case after Dandan's family filed a wrongful death suit against the agency. The suit claims that BART failed "to uphold its duty to protect passengers from harm through its negligent security practices."
Belmont is making his first court appearance today, Friday, after spending the last four months hospitalized and unable to appear. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in early July. He has not yet entered a plea.
Previously: Suspect In BART-Shove Killing Charged With Murder
Photo: Kace Rodriguez