El Paso man sentenced to 198 years in prison for sexual abuse of child

An El Paso man has been sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison for sexually abusing two teenage girls, authorities said.

An El Paso jury sentenced Juan Montellano to 99 years in prison for each of two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14, El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said.

Montellano was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for four counts of indecent conduct involving sexual intercourse with a child. He was fined $10,000 for each of the six offences.

Montellano and the victims were not strangers, but the El Paso Times is not publishing details about the relationship to prevent the victims from being identified.

The jury reached a guilty verdict and handed down the sentence on Thursday, November 14.

168th District Court Judge Marcos Lizarraga ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, meaning Montellano will be sentenced to 198 years in prison. Sentences for child indecency will be served concurrently with one of the continuing sexual abuse charges.

“I want to emphasize that this is the largest penalty we have received in the last two years of my administration,” Hicks said. “I am extremely proud of the extremely hard work that has gone into this case, but most importantly I want to emphasize that if you victimize children in this community, the jury speaks, the judges speak, you go to prison. You will spend the rest of your life in prison.”

The jury acquitted Montellano of one count of indecency involving sexual intercourse with a child. The trial lasted about two weeks.

Assistant district attorneys Eric Willard and Jonathan Amber prosecuted the case.

Montellano’s victim was young

The indictment stated that the sexual attacks against girls, who were 5 and 6 years old at the time, started in 2015 and continued until 2020.

Hicks said the girl’s testimony was the key evidence presented at trial. A child abuse expert also testified about how children highlight and process the sexual abuse they are subjected to.

“You have to understand when a child is victimized for the first time, it is very difficult for that child to give details of what happened to them or even understand what happened to them,” Hicks said. “So when they first scream and they first start talking about what happened to them. It’s very, very difficult for a child to talk in any detail about what’s going on.”

Jury, judge send message to child sex offenders

Montellano’s 198-year sentence was the second major victory against child sexual abusers in the past two months in Texas’ 34th Judicial District, which includes El Paso, Hudspeth and Culberson counties.

Willard and Amber were prosecutors Edward Alvarado case. sentenced to 170 years in prison In September.

Alvarado was sentenced to 75 years in prison for repeated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14; 50 years for second count of sustained sexual abuse of a child under 14; 45 years in the third case of persistent sexual abuse of a child under 14, according to court records. The sentence was handed down on September 6.

Lizarraga, who was also the presiding judge in Alvarado’s case, ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, meaning Alvarado was sentenced to 170 years in prison.

“These cases are messages from the judiciary,” Hicks said. “We thank Judge Lizarraga for doing the fair thing and stacking the sentences, and we thank the juries for doing the right thing and sending the right message that sexual abuse of our children will not be tolerated.”

Alvarado’s victims were ages 4, 7 and 10, Hicks said.

Aaron Martinez can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

Montellano’s victim was young

Jury, judge send message to child sex offenders

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