ERIE, Pa. (AP) - A northwestern Pennsylvania high school teacher has been sentenced to 32 years in federal prison on charges he produced child pornography featuring two boys he knew, after he was cleared of criminal charges that he molested three other boys.
Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy in Erie immediately fired David Montgomery, 44, after his guilty plea in November. The sentence imposed Monday had been agreed upon by prosecutors and Montgomery’s defense attorney, Gene Placidi, who did not immediately return a request for comment. U.S. District Judge David Cercone in Erie still had to approve and impose the term, however.
None of Montgomery’s alleged victims attended the school which suspended him after his initial arrest in 2011 on charges that he molested a 12-year-old boy who visited Montgomery’s home for Christmas in 2010.
Montgomery had also been charged with molesting that boy’s younger brothers, ages 9 and 6, but those charges were thrown out before trial after the youngest boy balked when asked at a pretrial hearing whether he understood the difference between truth and a lie.
Montgomery was then acquitted, in May, of charges he molested the oldest brother - but by then another accuser had come forward.
That boy, born in 1995, accused Montgomery in April of molesting him repeatedly from age 8 to 15. Those allegations prompted authorities to search Montgomery’s home, where they found child pornography that Montgomery had produced featuring that boy and another boy, identified in court papers only as having been born in 2002. They also found child pornography produced by others.
Placidi has said he’s still hopeful that the Erie County district attorney might dismiss the related molestation charges. But District Attorney Jack Daneri has said he has no plans to drop those charges, which are scheduled for trial in Erie County Common Pleas Court next month.
Placidi said in November that Montgomery pleaded guilty despite the hefty sentence because he could have faced life in prison had he been convicted on those charges and others federal authorities threatened to bring, including transporting a minor across state lines for sexual purposes.
Montgomery acknowledged producing the pornography with a boy from another state eight times between 2005 and 2010 while the boy was between 10 and 15, and with taking pictures of a local 8-year-old boy on three occasions while the child was naked and sleeping.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold said one of the pictures showed a naked boy lying on Montgomery’s bed, covered in money.
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