Second suit claims abuse by ex-director
Complaint alleges multiple people were victims of local network of child predators in 1970s, ’80s
A second lawsuit has been filed against the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe/Del Norte in which a man claims he was a victim of sexual abuse as a minor at the hands of the late Louis Montaño when the former mayor was the club’s director.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by an Albuquerque-based law firm that specializes in such cases, also alleges there are more victims and that Montaño was part of a network of child predators operating in the Santa Fe area in the 1970s and 1980s.
“We’ve had calls from numerous people in the community who were themselves victims of Montaño, or who knew people who were victims of Montaño, or both,” attorney Levi Monagle of Hall & Monagle LLC said Wednesday in a news release. “Whether these individuals decide to file suit or not is a personal decision, but we know they are out there.”
Attorney Brad Hall, who in recent years obtained dozens of settlements on behalf of “John Doe” clients who said they were molested during childhood by Catholic priests, said in a statement the firm hopes to uncover the extent
of the alleged network of child abusers “and pursue justice for its victims.”
The lawsuit filed by Hall and Monagle largely mirrors a suit their firm filed in April alleging Montaño sexually abused a 12-year-old boy.
Montaño, who died in 2008, spent 27 years as director of the Boys Club of Santa Fe. He took the position after leaving a Catholic seminary to serve in the Marine Corps during the Korean War, then getting a Boys Club scholarship to study youth counseling at New York University.
The first accuser claims the sexual abuse happened at the club between 1973 and 1974. The second unnamed accuser alleges Montaño “sexually groomed, manipulated, and abused” him from about 1975 to about 1981, or from about the time he was 10 until he was about 16.
Montaño “took advantage of the substantial power vested in him as the director of the [Boys Club of Santa Fe] to manipulate impoverished boys like [the accuser] into performing sexual acts, often in exchange for necessities like food, shoes, or money for their families,” the lawsuit states. “The childhood sexual abuse inflicted upon [the accuser by Montaño] was criminal in nature and should be acknowledged as such by those who empowered him to groom minor boys for sexual abuse.”
Beginning in 1974, Montaño served two terms as a city councilor before he was elected in 1982 to a four-year term as mayor.
The current director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe/Del Norte, City Councilor Roman “Tiger” Abeyta, issued a statement Wednesday that said the organization has a zero tolerance policy for anything that puts children at risk and that all employees and volunteers must undergo a thorough criminal background check.
“Even one safety incident is too many, and we take very seriously any allegation that impacts the well-being of the young people entrusted to our care,” the statement said. “Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe is aware of lawsuits filed that allege sexual abuse of former Club members by a former employee, who is now deceased, dating back to the early 1970s. We are both shocked and saddened by this allegation, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families.”
The statement also said, “It is our aim to have the lawsuits resolved in a manner that provides support and comfort to the victims and their families, and we will cooperate fully with those involved in the legal process.”
In addition to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, the latest lawsuit names as a defendant the national organization with which the club is affiliated. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the defendants were negligent in the hiring and supervision of Montaño and failed to have “hiring and screening procedures to prevent unfit individuals” from working at the club.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.