Tracy man convicted in scheme to sexually…
NewsCrime and Public Safety
Tracy man convicted in scheme to sexually assault woman he met in nightclub
By Bay City News Service |
May 7, 2014 at 11:44 a.m.
Two men have been convicted of conspiring to sexually assault a woman they met at a nightclub in Monterey's Cannery Row district in 2012, the Monterey District Attorney's Office announced Monday.
A jury on Monday found Edward James Montoya, 26, of Monterey, guilty of felony conspiracy to commit a sexual battery and destroying case evidence following a week-long trial in Superior Court in Monterey, Deputy District Attorney Todd Hornik said.
A second man, David McClintic, 24, a resident of Tracy, pleaded no contest four days into the trial last Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery in the case, Hornik said.
McClintic then agreed to testify against his co-defendant Montoya last Friday, Hornik said.
According to an investigation by the Monterey Police Department, a 24-year-old woman from King City went with friends to a Cannery Row nightclub in Monterey on Sept. 20, 2012.
The woman and her friends then met McClintic and Montoya there for the first time.
She consented to leave the club with McClintic, who took her to Montoya's residence in Monterey, prosecutors said.
McClintic and the woman engaged in consensual sex in a bedroom at Montoya's home, Hornik said.
Afterwards, McClintic sent text messages to Montoya, who was still at the club, urging him to commit a non-consensual sexual assault on the woman and Montoya agreed, according to Hornik.
McClintic told the woman they would have sex again with the lights turned off, but while the woman was in bed waiting, Montoya crawled into bed with her and tried to engage in non-consensual sex, prosecutors said.
When the woman realized he was not McClintic, she screamed, got up and phoned her friends, who came quickly to the residence to rescue her, Hornik said.
Monterey police also arrived at the scene to begin an investigation.
Montoya jumped out of the bed after the woman screamed and did not sexually assault her, Hornik said.
McClintic confessed to the scheme the next day but Montoya never admitted guilt, even after police found the text messages on McClintic's phone that the two men had exchanged about planning a sexual assault, Hornik said.
One of the messages from McClintic to Montoya read, "Come on over," the prosecutor said.
"It was a thought-out attempt," Hornik said.
Montoya erased the texts on his phone, which led prosecutors to charge him with destroying evidence, for which he was convicted.
McClintic and Montoya apparently thought that the female victim was intoxicated at the time when she was not, according to Hornik.
While McClintic admitted guilt and pleaded no contest, Montoya denied that he did anything wrong throughout the trial, Hornik said.
Both defendants will be sentenced on July 8, with Montoya facing up to three years in prison and McClintic up to one year in jail.
The two will likely face probation terms and be required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives, Hornik said.
Bay City News Service