Past suspect linked to series of rapes

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - He used to be an area firefighter, and Albuquerque police now suspect he is a serial rapist.

Celso Montaño Jr. is charged with four rapes. It is a charge he has faced before.

In 2009, then-35-year-old Montaño was in court for pulling a knife on a woman, forcing her into his ride in southwest Albuquerque and allegedly raping her.

The rape charges were dropped, and Montaño pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Former District Judge Pat Murdoch gave him probation instead of prison as part of the plea deal.

One of the new rapes allegedly happened just hours after a judge decided to let him stay out of jail despite a probation violation.

Montaño had a hearing in September for violating his probation after he failed a drug test. Judge Stanley Whitaker decided that Montaño could stay out of jail.

Around seven hours after Montaño walked out of court, a 20-year-old woman told police she was walking on West Central near 60th Street late at night when Montano pulled up to her on the street. She said he asked for directions and when she got close, she said he pulled her into his truck and drove off.
 

The woman told police that Montaño drove her about two miles away and raped her in a back alley near Coors and San Ygnacio..

Three other women say they were raped in a very similar way, all taken off the streets near Central and 60th.

One of the women even grabbed Montaño's driver's license at the scene, according to police, and another victim remembered his license plate number.

Police are asking if anyone thinks they might be a victim to come forward.

"Based on what we're hearing from the women, based on the tell-tale signs of what appears to be a serial rapist, that there's the potential for more victims out there," said Officer Tasia Martinez of the Albuquerque Police Department.

Anyone who thinks they, too, are a victim in the case can call Sgt. Glenn St. Onge at the Family Advocacy Center (505) 924-6000. KRQE

News 13 asked the District Attorney's office why it dropped the rape charge against Montaño in 2009 and let him plead to aggravated assault instead and only serve probation. The DA's office says the case was complicated and there were credibility issues with the victim, so they were afraid Montaño might have beaten all the charges at trial.

Montaño is a military veteran and a former Bernalillo County firefighter. He was fired about a decade before his first conviction although it is unclear why Montaño was let go.