LOGAN — A 1st District Court judge had harsh words for a former police officer during his sentencing hearing in a domestic violence case Monday.
“You are the bad apple, sir,” Judge Angela Fonnesbeck said to 34-year-old Michael Montoya.
Montoya faced 12 charges in 2022 after a woman reported multiple instances of domestic violence, including incidents of physical and sexual abuse.
In a plea deal, Montoya pleaded “no contest” in March to felony counts of aggravated assault and stalking, as well as three misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.
“The facts that were left out of the original presentence investigative report are the most egregious of them,” said prosecuting attorney Joshua Nemeth, “where the defendant repeatedly engaged in acts of sexual abuse toward her, whether that was against her expressed consent or while she was unconscious.”
The judge said she considered rejecting the deal but ultimately went through with it after hearing from the victim, who was supportive of the resolution in the case.
When asked whether he wished to say anything during his sentencing, Montoya said, “No, your honor.”
The survivor in the case did choose to speak.
“The last words Michael Montoya ever texted me — while patrolling the streets of Logan city in his police car — was, ‘I wish you were dead.’ I knew then if I did not immediately leave, I would be leaving in a body bag,” the woman said.
She said Montoya used his position of trust as a police officer to make her feel like no one would believe her if she reported him. She also described living with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the abuse.
“He manipulated me into thinking the police would turn their backs on me, that no one would ever believe me,” the woman said. “To the world, he played the hero, but inside our home, he was a monster.”
According to court documents, Montoya could have faced up to 15 years in prison for the aggravated assault charge and up to five years in prison for the stalking charge. As part of the plea agreement, his prison sentences were suspended in favor of 364 days in jail, followed by probation.
His attorney said Montoya wanted to serve his time in Emery County, where he’d likely be safer, given his past as a police officer in Cache County.
“I don’t think you saying you’re sorry would make one bit of difference, but you don’t even have the common decency to stand up here today and apologize,” said Fonnesbeck. “It sure feels like you’re standing here unwilling to take accountability for your bad acts, for your criminal behavior.”
The judge said Montoya’s behavior “tainted” the public’s trust in his profession. And she gave him a stern warning.
“If you come back in here for even the smallest of violations, you should just plan on a trip to prison,” she said.
She also praised the victim in the case.
“That is a courageous woman,” she said. “Shame on you for trying to take that away from her or anyone else.”
Montoya will never be able to serve as a police officer again. His defense attorney suggested Montoya could self-report to serve his sentence within 48 hours. The judge instead ordered that he report to jail on Tuesday morning by 9 a.m.
Outside of the courtroom, Montoya did not answer questions.
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
- Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah’s confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
- YWCA Utah Survivor Services: 801-537-8600
- Utah’s statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.