Today, Judge Scott Arthur Evans sentenced Heriberto Montanez, age 44, to a term of 16 to 32 years in a state correction institution and a consecutive five year term of probation.  Montanez faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 to 20 years of imprisonment on the charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 13, because his prior record includes a prior conviction for a felony crime of violence.   Montanez will be subject to Megan's Law registration following his release, for the rest of his life.

On March 9, 2022, a Dauphin County jury convicted  Montanez of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault of a child under the age of 13, and corruption of minors after a three-day trial.  The charges arose from an incident  in early 2020 in an apartment in uptown Harrisburg. Montanez entered a bedroom where the eight-year-old child was sleeping and sexually assaulted the child.  The child alerted a sibling to the assault who told another adult in the household, who initially dismissed the allegations as a bad dream. The child later disclosed to a parent, who reported the incident to investigators. During the trial the child, now 10 years of age, took the witness stand and described the assault in detail to the jury. The child bravely looked at Montanez in the courtroom and positively identified him as the assailant.

Corporal Jacob Pierce of the Harrisburg Bureau of Police investigated the case in conjunction with the Child Abuse Multi-Disciplinary Investigative Team. The Dauphin County Child Abuse Multi-Disciplinary Investigative Team consists of police, Children and Youth Services, members of the District Attorney’s Office, and the UPMC- Children’s Advocacy Center.  Senior Deputy District Attorney Katie L. Adam of the office's Child Abuse Unit prosecuted this case.