Montoya Released to Halfway House

Former state Sen. Joseph B. Montoya, the first legislator convicted in a 1989 probe of corruption in the state Capitol, was released Friday from the federal prison camp in Boron to begin serving the final three months of his six-year sentence at a halfway house.

Montoya’s attorney, Jeremiah Hallisey, said the former Whittier Democrat has been assigned to an unspecified halfway house in the Los Angeles area until he is freed from custody Oct. 7.

Montoya, first elected to the Legislature in 1972, was found guilty in 1990 of racketeering, extortion and money laundering in the operation of his public office. An appellate court later threw out the extortion convictions but upheld the others.

Montoya was captured by a hidden camera accepting a $3,000 payment from an undercover FBI agent posing as a business executive who needed Montoya’s vote on a special interest bill. He was the first of five legislators caught in the federal sting to go to prison.

Montoya voiced sorrow for his crimes in a 1993 court appearance at which he pleaded to be set free. The judge refused, but did reduce his sentence from 6 1/2 to 6 years. Montoya got his time cut further for good behavior.