An El Paso man has been sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison for sexually abusing two young girls, authorities said.
An El Paso jury sentenced Juan Montellano to 99 years in prison on each of two counts of aggravated battery on a child under the age of 14, El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks said.
Montellano was also sentenced to 20 years in prison on four counts of sexual misconduct with a child. He was fined $10,000 for each of the six charges.
El Paso County District Attorney Bill Hicks, right, shakes hands with prosecutors Eric Willard and Jonathan Amber during a news conference Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, at the Enrique Moreno County Courthouse in Downtown El Paso to be sentenced to 198 years in prison. the issue of child sexual abuse.
Montellano and the victims were not strangers, but the El Paso Times is not releasing details about the relationship to avoid identifying the victims.
The jury came to the courts and handed down the verdict on Thursday, November 14.
Judge Marcos Lizarraga of the 168th District Court ordered the sentences to run consecutively, meaning Montellano will serve 198 years in prison. The sentences for the misdemeanor child offense will be served at the same time as any of the remaining charges of sexual abuse.
“I want to emphasize that this is the largest sentence we have obtained in the last two years during my administration,” Hicks said. “I’m proud of the hard work that went into this case, but above all, I want to emphasize that if you abuse children in this community, the judges have said, the judges have said, you’re going to jail. You’re going to be in jail for the rest of your life.
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A jury acquitted Montellano of one count of indecent exposure to a child involving sexual intercourse. The trial lasted two weeks.
Deputy District Attorneys Eric Willard and Jonathan Amber prosecuted the case.
Montellano’s victims were young
The sexual abuse of the girls, then 5 and 6 years old, began in 2015 and continued until 2020, it is alleged.
Juan Montellano
The girls’ testimony was the main piece of evidence presented at the trial, Hicks said. An expert on child abuse also commented on how children cope with abuse.
“You have to understand that when a child starts being abused, it’s difficult for that child to talk about what happened to him, to understand what happened to him,” said Hicks. “So when they give their first cry and they start talking about what happened to them. It’s very difficult for a child to say any kind of words about what happened.”
Jury, judge sending message to child sex offenders
Montellano’s 198-year sentence is the second major victory for child sex offenders in the past two months in Texas’ 34th Judicial District, which includes El Paso, Hudspeth and Culbson.
Willard and Amber were the prosecutors in the Edward Alvarado case. He was sentenced to 170 years in September.
Alvarado was sentenced to 75 years on one count of continuing sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14; 50 years for the second count of resisting sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14; and 45 years for third-degree aggravated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, court records show. The verdict was handed down on September 6.
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Lizarraga, who was the judge in Alvarado’s trial, said the sentences would be served consecutively, meaning he is serving 170 years in prison.
“These charges are messages from the courts,” Hicks said. “We thank Judge Lizarraga for doing the right thing and ordering the sentences, and we thank the judges for doing the right thing and sending the right message that sexual abuse of our children will not be tolerated.”
Those killed by Alvarado were 4, 7 and 10 years old, Hicks said.
Aaron Martinez can be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on the El Paso Times: El Paso man receives 198-year prison sentence for child sex abuse.