BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. – Another of the nine men arrested in a sting operation focused on adults seeking sex with minors in the Bullhead City area early this year will be going to the Arizona Department of Corrections for at least a decade.
Steven Monte, 67, Mohave Valley pleaded guilty to four felony offenses during a July 14 hearing at the Mohave County Law and Justice Center in Kingman.
Prosecutor James Schoppmann said Monte believed he was communicating with a 15-year-old boy whom he agreed to meet for sex in late Jan., before learning he had actually been exchanging messages with an undercover officer. Schoppmann read excerpts of some of the communications involving acts Monte said he’d perform on the person he believed to be a juvenile.
In addition to luring a minor, Monte pleaded guilty to three sexual exploitation of a minor-related charges for possessing images of young boys engaged in sexual activity with adult males.
Terms of the deal require Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle to impose a 10- to 24-year prison term at an Aug. 13 sentencing hearing. Monte will also be required to serve probation with sex offender registration protocols for life, upon his release from prison.
Case co-defendant Brandon Valerio, 22, also made a July 14 appearance in another court. Judge Billy Sipe rejected a plea agreement that would have sent Valerio to prison followed by lifetime probation for intending to meet for sex with whom he presumed would be two Venezuelan teenagers, rather than law enforcement.
Sipe said Valerio is an illegal immigrant who would likely be deported following a short prison term. Sipe said that would spare Valerio from the lifetime probation punishment component.
Sipe recused himself, allowing the case to be reassigned. Newly assigned judges sometimes approve deals rejected by other judges.
