A couple who kidnapped and tortured a woman in a horrific dayslong crime spree that began in a Val Verde trailer March 13 and ended three days when the victim walked into a Castaic fire station and reported her ordeal were sentenced Monday.
Judge Pamela Usher sentenced Justin Steven Montoya, a 24-year-old documented Val Verde gang member, to the mid-term sentence of five years, after the L.A. County District Attorney’s office agreed to allow him to plead no contest to a single kidnapping charge. In exchange, five other charges against Montoya were dropped, as well as the special allegations due to his previous convictions.
Montoya was given credit for nearly 20 months of time served for the approximately 10 months he served in pretrial detention while awaiting his court case.
In accordance with her plea deal, Usher sentenced 42-year-old Margaret Harrison to four years and eight months in prison, with similar credit for nearly 20 months served due to the 10 months she was in custody for pretrial detention.
She pleaded no contest to two counts: one count of assault; and a second count of carrying a loaded firearm; and in exchange, six other charges, including mayhem torture and kidnapping, were dismissed.
The victim reported to authorities that she’d known Montoya and Harrison for at least two years prior to the assault and kidnapping.
She was spending time with Montoya in his trailer on Monroe Street, when Montoya left and then returned with Harrison and the two began assaulting the victim, according to a court record of the investigation into the crimes.
The two kept the woman for two days before the victim was forced out of a car driven by Montoya at the intersection of Hasley Canyon Road and Del Valle Road, according to a report from investigators. First responders reported she was suffering from numerous burns and bruises before she was taken for medical treatment.
Montoya is still listed in Sheriff’s Department custody at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Downtown Los Angeles, where he’s been since his April 10 arrest. Harrison remains in the women’s Century Regional Detention Center in Lynwood as of this story’s publication.
