SAN ANTONIO – A former detention officer with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for having an improper sexual relationship with a female inmate.
Erick Montez, 36, was given the maximum sentence allowed by Judge Lorina Rummel after being found guilty by a jury in June.
Prosecutors were able to prove that Montez had sex with a female inmate while transporting her in a BCSO van in late 2015.
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A mistrial was declared in June on a more serious sex assault charge related to the incident.
Montez, who resigned from BCSO in January 2016, faces a retrial on that count, as well as trials for two other sex assault cases involving inmates who were in his custody in 2012 and 2014.
The trials are tentatively scheduled for November.
The body of one of the alleged victims, Jessica Gonzales, was found in an alley south of downtown in July.
Related: Sex assault case against former BCSO deputy in limbo after alleged victim found killed
The case remains pending, even though Montez's attorney has said prosecutors will likely have no choice but to dismiss the case.
During a brief statement before the judge Tuesday, Montez's wife asked that her husband be placed on probation to help care for the couple's three children.
Montez's wife also said he served several tours in Iraq, including one that he volunteered to go on.
"I find that this is such an abhorrent or disgusting abuse of power that I think two years in a state jail facility is appropriate," Rummel said to Montez.
Montez will be given credit for time already served.
