Jurors Shown Videotape of Montoya and $3,000 Check

Jurors watched an FBI-made videotape today that showed state Sen. Joseph B. Montoya (D-Whittier) accepting a $3,000 check, then joking that the check was for $30,000.

Montoya received the check during a June 29, 1988, breakfast meeting with an undercover FBI agent posing as a Georgia businessman who wanted legislation passed to benefit his fictitious company.

Agent George Murray, using the alias of George Miller, suggested that Montoya verify the total on the check because Murray said he’d been drinking late the night before and might have written the wrong amount.

“You better look at that thing real close to be sure,” Murray said. “I wrote several of them at one time.”

Taking the check from his pocket, Montoya said, “No, it’s $30,000, which is all right.” He then laughed.

When Montoya joked about the check total, Murray said, “From what I understand getting it out of that blasted committee is worth about ten times that.”

Montoya assured Murray that he would be on the Senate floor when his legislation came up in case it encountered any trouble.

Montoya, chairman of the Senate Business and Professions Committee, has pleaded innocent to charges of bribery, extortion, racketeering and money laundering.

He is the first person to stand trial as a result of the FBI’s investigation of alleged corruption at the state Capitol.

The breakfast meeting of Montoya, Murray and John Shahabian, a Senate aide working as an FBI operative, took place at a restaurant about two blocks from the state Capitol.

Another FBI agent sitting at a nearby table with a video camera in her purse recorded the meeting.