Baltimore Police Beat: Cops and G-Men K-O Child Molester - Judge sends him to slammer for 21 years
Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced to Over 21 Years in Prison for Enticing a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity and for Receiving Child Pornography
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Michael L. Montague, age 66, formerly of Gwynn Oak, Maryland, Friday, February 19, 2016 to 262 months in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for using a mobile phone to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and for receipt of child pornography. Judge Bredar also ordered that upon his release from prison, Montague will be required to continue to register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Division; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
According to Montague’s plea agreement, from February 16 through March 26, 2014, Montague used his mobile phone to contact the victim. Montague knew the victim and knew that he was 12 years old at the time of their communications. Montague used a mobile application to contact the victim using a number different from the telephone number assigned to Montague’s phone. Using this disguised phone number Montague contacted the victim and claimed to be “Gail,” a classmate of victim’s. Posing as “Gail,” Montague engaged in sexually explicit text and email communications with the victim.
Montague, posing as “Gail” wrote to the victim that she knew Montague, and that the victim should send pictures of himself to Montague, and Montague would send the victim pictures of “Gail.” “Gail” told the victim that Montague had very nice pictures of “Gail” that
the victim should ask to see. “Gail” suggested that the victim seek permission to stay with Montague for a weekend so that “Gail” and the victim could meet for a sexual encounter. “Gail” also told the victim that she could get Montague to make a sexual video of her, and that then the victim should let Montague make a sexual video with him. Montague also sent messages to the victim posing as a male classmate of the victim who also knew Montague and “Gail.”
A Forensic examination of Montague’s phone revealed sexually explicit communications with the victim, sexually explicit images and videos Montague sent to the victim, and a sexually explicit image that the victim sent to Montague.
On May 19, 2009, Montague was convicted in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Maryland, of child abuse and a third-degree sex offense, for his sexual abuse of two girls, and was sentenced to three years in prison.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, HSI Baltimore, Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Zachary A. Myers and Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.