DNA nabs rape suspect after 31 years

Springs woman attacked in home

Thirty-one years ago, on a night in October, a young woman in Coral Springs awoke to find a stranger in a ski mask standing over her bed.

The armed intruder held her down and raped her and then got away. And for decades he lived a life of crime, exploitation and phony identities, jailed repeatedly but always hiding the dark secret of what happened in Coral Springs, police say.

The charade ended this week. DNA evidence finally linked convicted felon Frank Antonio Montana, 59, of Fort Pierce, to the attack, Coral Springs police said Thursday.

Montana had possibly gotten word that U.S. marshals were tracking him and drove out of state. But a stop off Interstate 10 at the Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge proved to be an unlucky choice.

Marshals were waiting there as Montana walked to his white Ford Taurus. They took Montana into custody Tuesday afternoon. He didn’t have anything to say, said acting Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Lucio, of the Middle District of

Louisiana.

The Coral Springs woman was just 27 when she survived the rape in her home on Oct. 22, 1987. Her attacker wore a dark-colored ski mask and possibly socks, gloves or mitts on his hands.

The woman is in her late 50s now and still lives in Florida, but is very protective of her privacy, even with detectives on her case, Coral Springs Police Detective Ernesto Bruna said.

She has not shared with police how her life turned out or how she coped between then and now, he said.

“The victim was relieved and happy, obviously, that [Montana] is not out and continuing to do this to other people,” Bruna said.

No other victims have come forward, Bruna said.

In the three decades between the Coral Springs attack and his arrest, Montana had been lucky in one way: When police submitted DNA the first time, the crime lab could not connect a suspect to the evidence.

But when police decided to reopen the cold case in March and had the DNA tested again, the Broward Sheriff’s Crime Lab compared it with an FBI database.

It pointed to Montana, who has several aliases, including Frank Cruz.

“Luckily, we had a match,” Bruna said.

Bruna credited advances in DNA technology for the break in the case, but those techniques were not described Thursday.

The same year as the Coral Springs rape, Montana was accused of committing sexual battery in Minneapolis. He was convicted and served five years in a Minnesota state prison, Bruna said.

Montana was arrested multiple other times during his life, including in Loudon County, Tenn.

“I just don’t like the man, I have to be straight up with you,” said Lt. Patrick Upton, of the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office. “He left a trail of broken hearts, I promise you that.”

Montana lived in Philadelphia, Tenn., around 2011, when Upton’s office accused Montana of gaining sympathy from people by impersonating a firefighter and 9/ 11 survivor, a police officer, a U.S. Marine and a pilot.

None of those identities, or credentials like a college diploma or fire training certificates from New York and Tennessee, were authentic, Upton said.

“There’s nothing worse than somebody trying to act like something they ain’t, and they ain’t worked for it,” Upton said.

Montana was accused of stealing jewelry and guns from friends, according to Upton. Records show Montana was convicted in Tennessee in 2012 for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

“He went to jail,” Upton said. “I can’t remember how much time it was, but it wasn’t enough.”

In Florida, state records list two aliases and 10 arrests for Montana. He was sentenced to probation in two cases.

In 1987 in Broward County, he served 21 months for conviction of two counts of grand theft. In 2004, he was sentenced to a year of probation for impersonating a law enforcement officer in Indian River County, the Florida Department of Corrections said.

When Montana is brought from Louisiana to Florida, he will face two counts of sexual battery with a weapon and armed burglary, Bruna said.

Coral Springs police ask anyone with information about other possible attacks to call Detective Michelle Gianino at 954-344-1800.

Though it may have taken 30 years to make an arrest in the case, Bruna said: “Our objective here, as at any law enforcement agency, is to catch the bad guy and give closure to the victims. That’s what we were able to do with this case.”

Montana