Man who triggered Gibbons probe faces bad check charges
The software designer who sparked a federal investigation of Gov. Jim Gibbons after accusing him of taking bribes was indicted on charges he has passed $1.8 million in bad checks on the Strip.
Las Vegas authorities allege Dennis Montgomery from September 2008 to June 2009 passed nine checks totaling $1 million at Caesars Palace and four checks totaling $850,000 at the Palazzo, according to the indictment handed down last week.
Montgomery, 57, faces six felony counts, including two counts each of obtaining money under false pretenses, theft and passing a check without sufficient funds.
Montgomery's attorney, Richard Schonfeld, said he was trying to negotiate a settlement with prosecutors, but that "doesn't seem feasible at this juncture."
Schonfeld said he's prepared to move forward and defend his client.
Montgomery is the former chief technical officer for the Reno-based software company eTreppid, which had won military contracts for video compression and target recognition software.
During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Montgomery accused Gibbons of accepting bribes to help eTreppid secure the military contracts, including accepting casino chips and $100,000 in cash during a star-studded, week-long cruise in the Caribbean.
Federal authorities investigated the accusation and ended the probe in 2008 without bringing charges against Gibbons.
In 2009, a published report indicated that eTreppid software designed by Montgomery was the reason for a Christmas 2003 nationwide terror scare that turned out to be false.
The report, published in Playboy magazine, suggested Montgomery claimed eTreppid had technology that could break codes.
According to the story, Montgomery convinced federal authorities that al-Qaida was transmitting information hidden in the broadcast signals of Al-Jazeera, the Arabic language news network and that his software could break the codes. But the technology did not work.
Montgomery remains free on $110,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in District Court.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.
