SAN ANTONIO – Nearly a year and a half after he was first arrested on charges he sexually assaulted a female inmate, a former Bexar County Sheriff's Office detention officer was arrested on new charges.
"The (District Attorney's) Office came to us during the course of this investigation and asked for some help, so we're going to lend a helping hand," Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
Erick Montez, 36, was charged Wednesday night with two counts of sexual assault.
"A sexual assault in it in itself is a crime that we are going to take serious every time, but when it's someone that's in law enforcement, it's actually that more despicable and so it's something that can't be tolerated," Salazar said.
One of the new indictments alleges on Dec. 31, 2012, Montez was a "public servant who coerced the complainant to submit and participate" in the sexual assault and that he caused the victim "by fraud to commit prostitution."
The other indictment is dated Nov. 18, 2014. It charges Montez with two counts of sexual assault and one charge of retaliation. It also says Montez was a "public servant who coerced the complainant to submit and participate" in the sexual assault." Montez allegedly threatened to harm that victim "in retaliation for or on account of her status as a witness or as a prospective witness."
In January 2016, Montez was arrested on charges he forced a female inmate to have sex. Court records say on Dec. 27, 2015, Montez moved the alleged victim from the jail annex to the main jail. At one point, surveillance video shows Montez parking a county transport van in a parking lot, exiting the van and approaching the woman in the back seat.
The video reportedly shows Montez jerking backwards and appearing to pull the woman toward him violently.
Then-Sheriff Susan Pamerleau told KSAT-12 there was no reason for Montez to have moved the inmate from one facility to another.
Montez's trial on the Dec. 2015 case is set for June. He was fired from the sheriff's office in Jan. 2016.
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