State investigates agencies' handling of Niveah case

Girl's alleged killer violated probation in child-abuse case

Myung Oak Kim and Julie Poppen,
Rocky Mountain News

Published September 26, 2007 at midnight

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The Colorado Department of Human Services is launching an investigation into the involvement of child welfare agencies with the 3-year-old girl whose body was found Monday in west Denver.

Niveah Gallegos was allegedly killed by her mother's boyfriend, Angel Ray Montoya, and dumped in a ravine, authorities said.

The Denver Department of Human Services received a report in July 2006 that Montoya may have been sexually abusing the girl.

At that time, Denver police began investigating reports that Montoya was molesting Niveah, but the probe stalled because the girl's mother refused to cooperate, according to a police statement supporting Montoya's arrest in Niveah's Friday disappearance.

Montoya was a repeat sex offender with a prior conviction for assaulting a 4-year-old boy and failing to register as a sex offender with police.

Yet even after Montoya was accused of molesting Niveah in 2006, he continued to often live with the girl and and her mother, Miriam Gallegos, 20, in their Logan Street apartment, according to police.

It is unclear what Denver DHS did to protect the girl.

The state DHS conducts a review whenever a child dies after having had contact within the previous five years with child welfare agencies.

Montoya was released from jail in July and was not under court supervision when he was arrested in the girl's slaying.

Authorities on Tuesday said the 22-year-old Montoya served six months in Denver County Jail for violating terms of his probation in a 2005 child-abuse case — not involving Niveah — after not reporting to his probation officer or attending parenting classes.

He was released July 25 and resumed regular contact with Gallegos, and her daughter, including living with them.

Two months later, Montoya is back in jail and facing a homicide charge linked to Niveah's death.

The girl's body was found Monday afternoon in Lakewood Gulch Park in west Denver. Passers-by and neighbors created a memorial at the site Tuesday.

An autopsy was completed Tuesday afternoon, but results have not been made public.

Montoya was first accused of sex offenses when he was 15 years old. He was picked up at least three times between 1999 and 2002 for indecent exposure. His juvenile records remain sealed.

He served a 180-day sentence in 2003 related to one of the indecent-exposure charges, said Denver Sheriff's Capt. Frank Gale.

Montoya was given credit for time served when he was slapped with a 60-day jail sentence for failing to register as a sex offender in 2003.

Since then, Montoya has registered eight times and his name appears on a list of the state's 9,616 sex offenders. The state requires offenders to register yearly or twice a year or when they move.

Montoya also served three months in jail in 2005 on a misdemeanor child abuse conviction. He was placed on probation when he was released in July 2005, but he violated the terms of probation and was sent back to jail.

In that case, a 4-year-old boy whom Montoya was babysitting told his mother in January 2005 that Montoya tried to choke him. The boy suffered bruises on his face, throat, shoulder, arms, feet and wrists. The child said Montoya had hooked him up on the wall with a tie and tied his legs together, according to court records.

The terms of his initial probation — before he violated them — did not include staying away from children, despite his sex-offender status, said Erik Garcia-Gillespie, chief probation officer. He said Montoya had been evaluated by mental health professionals.

"In this case, we did our part of it," Garcia-Gillespie said. "Possibly there could always be more you can do. It's a horrible tragedy."

Gallegos called police Friday afternoon with a story police say she concocted about her daughter being kidnapped in an alley. Police issued an Amber Alert.

When they went to her apartment to get a copy of the child's picture, they found a paper towel with blood or some other bodily fluid on it. Police say Gallegos cracked and told them that Montoya had called her at work to say the child wasn't breathing.

Instead of calling for help, they placed the child's body in a garbage bag and placed the bundle inside a duffel bag, police said. Police believe Montoya transported the body to the park.

Gallegos was charged on suspicion of filing a false report, being an accessory to a crime and child abuse resulting in death.

Rocky staff writer Alan Gathright contributed to this report.

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