Ron Montoya Prominent local businessman arrested in connection with drunken driving

When Ron Montoya was pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving, the prominent local businessman asked the highway patrolman, "Do you know who I am?"

The trooper wasn't sympathetic. But a local judge was, an anti-drunken driving advocacy group alleges.

Montoya owns American Shooters, a longtime local gun store and shooting range that works closely with law enforcement. He was pulled over about 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 27 for speeding, blowing through three stop signs and veering between lanes, according to the report on his arrest. He then failed all field sobriety tests.

But after his arrest, Montoya got out of jail much faster than most people arrested in connection with drunken driving, thanks to a municipal judge making an exception to the court's usual policy.

A local activist is questioning whether it was a classic case of Vegas "juice" -- judges giving preferential treatment to their cronies or the influential. The judge and Montoya's lawyer say nothing improper took place, but they say they can't explain what really happened because the case still is pending.

"A drunk driver, a potential killer, a despicable impostor of humanity released before the paperwork was completed! That speaks volumes!" Sandy Heverly, executive director of STOP DUI wrote in a letter to Las Vegas Municipal Judge Cedric Kerns that was independently acquired by the Review-Journal.

"It appears the city jail has a revolving door that is well oiled. ... This situation begs the question of how often are these 'special considerations' extended, and is it the norm of the Las Vegas Municipal Court judiciary?"

Kerns said it was all a misunderstanding, but one that he wasn't allowed to publicly explain.

"I did not waive the 12 hours," he said, referring to the standard amount of time that court policy requires those arrested in connection with drunken driving to be jailed unless a judge makes an exception. "That was a miscommunication between me and (the jail's) intake. But even if I did, there wouldn't be a problem with that."

Montoya spent about five hours in jail.

According to the arrest report, early on a Sunday morning, Highway Patrol trooper Raymond Pedraza was drinking coffee at a Starbucks in a Summerlin shopping center when he saw a silver Cadillac Escalade speeding through the lot, then ignoring three stop signs. Pedraza got in his patrol car and followed the SUV, watching it veer between lanes at 60 mph in a 45 mph zone.

At Town Center and Covington Cross drives, Pedraza pulled the Cadillac over. The driver had bloodshot eyes and was chewing gum, he noticed. When he asked the driver, Ron Montoya, to get out of the car, he got a strong whiff of alcohol "from his breath/person."

Montoya said he hadn't been drinking, then failed a horizontal-gaze sobriety test. Then he admitted he'd had one beer.

Then, according to the report, "Montoya asked me, 'Do you know who I am?' and I told him no, all I knew was his name. He stated to me he was the owner of American Shooters, that he supported 'you guys' with uniforms, guns and a range. He also pleaded with me to let him go, that he lived just up the street, was there any way to get out of this.

"He also stated that all his family was law enforcement or involved with law enforcement in some way. He apologized for his driving and said he would let someone else drive, just let him go home up the street."

Pedraza then asked Montoya to blow into a breath device, but Montoya didn't blow strongly enough to register on it, which Pedraza interpreted as deliberate noncompliance, according to the report. Montoya then failed the "walk and turn one leg stand" test, and that's when Pedraza handcuffed him and took him into custody.

Montoya stands charged with five moving violations -- driving under the influence, speeding, failing to maintain a travel lane, failing to stop at a stop sign and failing to signal a lane change. All are misdemeanors. He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 20 for arraignment.

Montoya did not return calls seeking comment. His lawyer, Luis Rojas, said he would not allow Montoya to speak but he planned to enter a plea of not guilty.

What happened after Montoya was put in jail is murky.

Las Vegas' six municipal judges have all signed a court order establishing the 12-hour hold for those arrested in connection with drunken driving, which only a judge can waive. It is a matter of court policy, not statute.

Kerns says that in this case, he did initially waive the hold. But then he changed his mind, he said, for reasons he said he couldn't talk about.

"I waived it initially," he said. "But after speaking to the trooper, I decided not to. I called the defense attorney and said, he's not getting out. But the message didn't get through" to the jail staff, who went ahead with the release.

Court papers show that Kerns waived the hold, but there is no notation that this was reversed.

In any case, Kerns said, a judge has every right to waive the 12-hour hold. He said he'd done it about four times in the past year, always in cases where an attorney was coming to pick up the accused.

After that, Kerns recused himself. That's what judges do when some kind of conflict of interest, such as a personal relationship, prevents them from hearing a case impartially, but they don't have to explain why they're recusing.

Kerns said his recusal came about because Pedraza had given him information about the case that he shouldn't have known.

"The trooper gave me some independent facts of the case that I shouldn't know before trial," he said. "I can't hear it anymore." The case is now in Municipal Chief Judge Toy Gregory's court.

Kerns said he couldn't talk about that conversation with Pedraza. "I can't comment on a pending case," he said. "The city attorney told me not to talk about it."

Heverly said Montoya shouldn't have been released. She said the 12-hour policy is in place to protect the public by making drunks dry out.

"There's no guarantee, after he gets picked up, that the attorney makes sure he sobers up," she said. "What if he got his car back and injured or killed someone?"

She questioned whether the personal relationships Montoya alluded to in his conversation with Pedraza had something to do with what she labeled special treatment.

Montoya's gun shop does have about 20 pending contracts with the Metropolitan Police Department for a variety of equipment, including badges, shirts and handguns, the department's budget director, Janelle Kraft, said. Since most of the contracts were for less than $25,000, they didn't go through a bidding process, she said.

It couldn't be immediately determined whether Montoya had similar ties to the Highway Patrol.

In addition, Montoya's lawyer, Rojas, has twice contributed to Kerns' election coffers, $200 each in 2000 and 2005.

Rojas said those were token amounts and he contributes to many judges' campaigns. Both Rojas and Kerns said they do not know each other or Montoya socially, although Kerns acknowledged he knew who Montoya was.

"I know Mr. Montoya because he owns American Shooters, and that's where I got my concealed weapons permit," Kerns said. "I don't hang out with him."

Rojas said he, too, believed there was a mix-up at the jail but couldn't talk about the facts of the case.

"The judge talked to me and told me specifically, 'He cannot be let out of jail for 12 hours.' I said, 'Thank God, I don't want to go pick him up at 7 a.m.,' and got back in bed with my wife. The next thing I know, a few hours later I get a call from the jail saying he's ready to go."