Detective Martinez had enough experience with children to know that their accounts are not always accurate, so she had to corroborate the boy’s story. She brought him to a child specialist who questioned the boy further. Martinez watched the interview on a video monitor:
“What came out of that interview is the victim said that all the students in his class had seen what occurred. When we heard that, everybody’s opinion was, ‘Ok, we know that’s not true.'”
Man clutching a chain link fence
Police believe he molested at least two boys
Despite her doubts, Martinez immediately interviewed all the children in the boy’s class. They all denied seeing anything. She decided to interview the boy again. This time, the boy admitted that he had lied about the other students seeing the assault. He said he was scared during the first interview and thought his lie would end the questioning. But according to Teresa, the boy claimed that Frank Montenegro did, in fact, attack him:
“This kid was so believable. His demeanor wasn’t one of being untruthful. And, you know, he just wasn’t lying and I believed him.”
Detective Martinez searched Montenegro’s classroom, where the victim said the incident took place. As she made her way to the back, she found something she did not expect to see at an elementary school. Through a nondescript door were two hidden rooms. Theresa claimed the rooms were separated by a two-way mirror:
“There should be no reason for a two-way mirror between those two rooms. I’m thinking, why would he need that? And in my mind, as an investigator, I’m thinking, this guy’s probably filming these acts. The way the two rooms are set up in the back, if Frank wanted to do this with this child, he can shut those doors. And even if somebody walked into the classroom, they wouldn’t be able to see what was going on.”
When Martinez returned the next day, the two-way mirror had been replaced with a regular pane of glass. Fearing that Montenegro might suddenly have become aware of her investigation, Martinez shifted into high gear. She had a search warrant secured for Montenegro’s home:
“And when we searched his room, we found gifts for smaller kids and books about sex with younger kids. Now we’re starting to get some things that are going to help me corroborate the profile of a child molester.”
Montenegro was not home during the search, but a female relative was. Detective Martinez says the relative then made a disturbing revelation.
“She told me of an incident involving another victim that was found in Frank’s bedroom naked.”
After hearing about the possibility of a second incident, Martinez brought Montenegro in for questioning:
“We talked to him for close to four hours, and in that whole time, he never denied that he did anything. It was always, ‘No, it couldn’t have been me.’ Not: ‘No, I didn’t do it.’ It was very passive, very, very clear to us that he wasn’t being truthful.”
But it was still the word of a little boy who had already lied against that of a well-respected teacher and community leader. For charges as serious as child abuse, it wasn’t enough for an arrest warrant. To seal her case, Detective Martinez needed the testimony from a second victim. She discovered that a neighboring police department held an outstanding complaint against Montenegro involving another boy. Fearing that Montenegro might take off, Martinez raced to the school and pulled the boy out of class for an interview:
“His eyes started tearing up, and he looked as if, ‘Oh, my gosh, I am caught. I need to talk.’ I knew that something had happened to that kid.”