Accused Placer County deputy’s legal woes mount as more alleged victims come forward

A Placer County deputy accused of felony sexual misconduct involving three women is expected to face additional charges as more alleged victims have come forward since his arrest in June, court records say.

Richard Wesley Montz, 37, initially was charged with rape and sodomy involving two women he had been dating, and a third alleged victim was added to the criminal complaint in July, court records show.

Now, prosecutors say they are preparing more charges as additional people come forward.

“Since the filing of the original complaint in this case alleging 14 felony sexual offenses against two separate victims, multiple other potential parties have contacted law enforcement and provided statements describing sexual contact with the defendant,” Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow wrote in a court filing last week that highlighted portions of the document in bold-face type.

“One such statement has resulted in the filing of additional felony offenses against a third victim alleged in a first amended complaint filed on July 5.

“Multiple parties who worked with the defendant were interviewed as part of the original investigation, many of whom indicated they had engaged in sexual conduct with the defendant, some saying their experience was consensual, some saying it was not, and almost all expressing concern with being involved in the case given the nature of their work.

“The people are preparing to file yet another amended complaint adding offenses against a fourth and fifth victim.”

Montz, a 10-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail without bail. A judge rejected a bid by defense attorney Tom Johnson to win his release on $500,000 bail and have him wear a GPS monitoring device.

Johnson has defended his client in court filings and in a statement to The Sacramento Bee.

“The Placer County Sheriff’s Department is full of cliques, politics, and people with petty, long-held grievances,” Johnson wrote the statement Tuesday. “Those same people are doing the investigation, unfortunately for Mr. Montz.”

Court documents do not identify any of the alleged victims, but make clear that at least some of them are people who worked with Montz in the Sheriff’s Office.

Montz is accused of offenses in Placer and Yuba counties ranging from rape by use of drugs to sodomy by controlled substance to rape of an unconscious person. The offenses allegedly occurred between June 2014 and March 2021.

“Mr. Montz is charged in a 17-count complaint with sex offenses ranging from forced sex to drunk sex,” Johnson wrote in a court filing seeking access to videos and other evidence seized from Montz’ cellphones and computers during a March search.

Johnson also is seeking information provided to the Sheriff’s Office during an exit interview by retiring Chief Deputy Coroner Batine Ramirez, who court filings say was the supervisor for the first victim.

“Victim 1 disclosed the alleged assaults to her prior supervisor, Batine Ramirez,” Johnson wrote. “Ms. Ramirez then disclosed this information about Victim 1 during her exit interview.”

Johnson argued in court filings that the alleged victims from the initial charges had “been in consensual sexual relationships with Mr. Montz” and that “they remained in consensual relationships with him even after the alleged assaults occurred.”

“The accusers knew each other in some instances and Mr. Montz allegedly dated them simultaneously,” Johnson wrote.

“It was dysfunctional, but if the court looks at the complaint it can discern the following: the first act alleged is said to have occurred on November 8, 2015, against Jane Doe 1. The reports indicate that after November 8, 2015, Jane Doe 1 and Mr. Montz continued a multiyear consensual relationship.

“They bought a house together two years later. Jane Doe 1 helped raise Mr. Montz’s son. They worked together, lived together, and had consensual sex together for five years after the first count.”

Johnson added that the accusers “only provide a range of dates because in the middle of those dates there was consensual sex.”

“In those consensual relationships the accusers are now saying there are individual days that were forcibly sexually assaulted but stayed in the sexual relationship,” he added.

Johnson also argued that Montz, who is raising a son and whose parents live in the area, would pose no threat if he was released pending trial.

“He does not call or reach out to the accusers; they reach out to him,” he wrote. “Two of the accusers worked day to day with him for years and both knew of each other’s interest in Mr. Montz.

“They were both romantically interested in him, and now they are alleging they were raped by him. The reports by Jane Doe 2 detail how she ‘enjoyed sex with him’ and that sometimes ‘it made it confusing.’

“They fought about sex, they fought about whether he was being safe with sex out of the relationship, they fought about the type of sex they would have.

“However, she never said she was raped.”