Museum Worker Beaten, Stabbed by Tattooed Man

VENTURA —  After beating and stabbing a volunteer worker at the Albinger Archealogical Museum, a visitor to the small gallery fled with about $20 in donations, police said.

Following a struggle with the armed intruder, John Wayman, 32, of Ventura was taken to the Ventura County Medical Center with knife wounds in the chest and upper arm. He was in stable condition Saturday, a hospital official said.

Wayman first met his attacker--a white male in his 20s--early Saturday when he toured the museum, Police Lt. Steve Bowman said. Wayman told police the man then returned at 3:35 p.m. and asked to see a slide show. When the presentation was over, the man left.

But as Wayman was returning the slide projector to a storage closet, the man reappeared with a knife and said he intended to tie up Wayman, Bowman said. A struggle ensued, during which the suspect beat Wayman in the head with a pipe, slashed his upper arm and stabbed him in the chest.

Wayman then managed to lock himself in the closet, where he told police that he heard the man break open a donation jar and flee.

Police described the man as short and stocky with long, brown hair. He was wearing a denim jacket with no undershirt and had a large tattoo across his torso.