By Andy Sevilla.
A Buda man was charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated kidnapping for his separate alleged attacks against two women.
James Robert Montoya, 40, was arrested March 4 on all first-degree felonies, each carrying a maximum life sentence in a state prison.
In the early morning hours of March 16, 2012, Mary Simms (a pseudonym in court documents for one of Montoya’s alleged victims) was walking home from a downtown Austin bar when the suspect drove up behind her, repeatedly offering her a ride, according to the probable cause affidavit used to issue a warrant.
Simms rebuffed Montoya’s offers and continued walking when suddenly she was tackled, shoved to the ground and held down against her will, court documents state. Police then say Montoya placed his hands around Simms’ throat, almost to the point of unconsciousness, before sexually assaulting her on the ground.
Montoya then forced Simms into his car and told her he was taking her to his Buda home, on Tobin Drive in Bradford Village, according to court documents. Once inside the Buda residence, Montoya sexually assaulted Simms once more before she was able to escape at about 8 a.m. when the suspect fell asleep, court documents state.
After fleeing the home, Simms made her way to a nearby business and called a cab to take her home. The victim’s roommate and boyfriend took her to a hospital to seek medical treatment and notify Buda police of the attack, court documents state.
In a similar attack, Montoya’s first alleged victim, Jennifer Lopez (also a pseudonym) left her job in Buda and was traveling southbound on Interstate 35 to her home in New Braunfels in the early morning hours of Feb. 8, 2011, according to court documents.
Lopez’s car ran out of gas near the Blanco on-ramp. After unsuccessfully reaching anyone who could pick her up, she began walking toward San Marcos to find a gas station, court documents state. That’s when Montoya allegedly pulled over and offered Lopez a ride to a gas station.
“Lopez stated that she wouldn’t normally get into a stranger’s vehicle, but she was cold and scared so she got inside. She advised that she was crying at the time, and that she called her mother’s husband to tell him that someone had picked her up to help her,” investigators said in court documents.
Lopez told San Marcos police Montoya took the Blanco River exit and continued on the turnaround to the eastside of the highway. Initially she believed the suspect was locating a gas station near her stranded vehicle, but Montoya pulled off into an area by the highway where concrete barriers were stacked, according to court documents.
When Montoya’s car came to a stop, Lopez told police, she jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward the Blanco River exit turnaround, but the suspect quickly caught up to her, grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to the ground. She said Montoya then got on top of her, and punched her in the face, according to court documents.
As Montoya was dragging Lopez back to his truck by the hair, she told him she would cooperate with him as long as he stopped hurting her and let her go alive, court documents state.
“She told him that she had three children and was a single mother, in an effort to make him feel bad and stop what he was doing. She advised it didn’t work,” investigators said in court documents.
Montoya, allegedly, ultimately sexually assaulted Lopez in his truck, before letting her leave.
According to the police reports, DNA on Lopez’s clothing helped authorities identify the suspect as Montoya in her case.
The other victim, Simms, provided investigators with a written diagram of the inside of Montoya’s home. Further, a call made from Simms’ phone was traced back to Montoya’s residence. The victim told police that Montoya, who appeared distracted on the ride from Austin to Buda, grabbed her phone, as hers and his were both in the same spot in the car, and he appeared to text or make a call from it.
Police also concluded from GPS location data that Montoya’s cell phone was in the same area where Simms was allegedly attacked and his phone’s information also showed he left the area at times that coincide with her statement, records show.
Montoya is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on March 24. He has a Hays County criminal record dating back to 2003, which include arrests for assault and DWI.
