Bail lowered in sex abuse case

LAYTON — A judge has permitted a man charged with molesting young girls to bail out of jail provided the man is monitored 24 hours a day by a private security firm using an electronic device.

Second District Judge Thomas Kay ordered that bail for Aaron Marcos Montoya be reduced from $500,000 to $100,000 after a hearing Friday morning. Montoya was released from the Davis County Jail Friday afternoon and is under surveillance by Northwest Services.

Montoya, 33, is charged with 10 counts of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child for allegedly molesting nine girls ages 3 to 11 at his home, at outings and in a Primary class he taught for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He formerly worked for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office but recently was fired.

The judge heard from a Northwest Services representative on Friday who explained how the surveillance worked, the company's response time, how Montoya could be tracked if he went out of the apartment building where he will be residing, and how the firm can detect if the device has been tampered with.

Ed Brass, Montoya's lawyer, asked the judge to release Montoya to live with in-laws in downtown Salt Lake City.

Kay also imposed other restrictions on Montoya including no access to weapons, no contact with minors except supervised visits with his own three children, and no entering Davis County except for court hearings.

"He's changing one form of confinement for another, and it's at his expense," Brass said.

Parents of the alleged victims have strongly opposed Montoya's release under any conditions and have told the judge their daughters were terrified at the idea of Montoya being free. The adults not only worried about their own children but also any others that Montoya might come into contact with even while being monitored electronically.

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