A former federal employee has admitted trying to solicit a young boy for sex via texts and emails.
Carmelo Montanez, 54, a former computer scientist at the National Institute Of Standards And Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland, sent texts and emails to whom he believed was a 12-year-old boy,
News4 reported.
He asked him to sneak out of school at lunch to meet him in a nearby park and showed up with a bottle of red wine and a video game, investigators say.
But Montanez, who spent 30 years at the institute, was 'disappointed' when police showed up instead of a boy, Fairfax County Police lieutenant James Bacon told the network.
Montanez, who also acted as a coordinator for a youth soccer club in Damascus, responded to an online ad before he began to text and email the boy, the investigators' report states.
But his messages actually went to an undercover Fairfax police officer as part of an investigation by Fairfax County Police and the Inspector General at the US Department Of Commerce, of which the National Institute Of Standards And Technology is an agency.
He thought the boy went to Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia, and asked him to get out at lunchtime to meet up with him at a park.
There, Montanez showed up with an open bottle of wine and a video game, investigators say.
'Above and beyond the fact that he just shows up, he shows up gift in hand, ready for action,' Lieutenant James Bacon told News4.
Instead of a 12-year-old boy, police officers showed up to meet Montanez at the park.
He was very disappointed when he got there and found out it wasn't a 12 or a 13-year-old boy he was coming to meet, it was us,' Bacon added.
Montanez told investigators he had drunk a glass of red wine before arriving 'to calm his nerves', the report states.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to engage in indecent liberties with a child and began a two-year sentence in jail earlier this month.
Further investigation revealed 'numerous adult pornographic images' on Montanez's two work computers but no child pornography, News4 wrote.
A spokeswoman for the National Institute Of Standards And Technology said Montanez didn't use any of the National Institute Of Standards And Technology computers during his conversations with the person he thought was a 12-year-old boy.
[…]
Montanez was also a coach and member of the board of directors at the Damascus Soccer Club, whose members range from three to 18 years old.
But police told News4 they had found no evidence of any other illegal activity on Montanez's part.
His defense attorney told the network that a full investigation had shown no ties to youth soccer.
The Damascus Soccer Club said in a statement: 'This hurts. Like being side-swiped by a truck, our community is both shocked and saddened by the actions of a former coach and former member of the board of directors.
'We want to be clear that this crime was not committed while Mr Montanez was a member of our club in any capacity. There is zero evidence that there is any connection between his crime and the multiple youth organizations he was a part of.