Juan Montero

Name:
Montero, Juan

Date of Booking:
12/09/2025

Reason(s) For Booking:
Cruelty to Children (2nd Degree)

Furnishing alcoholic beverage to, and purchase of alcoholic beverage by, persons under 21 years of age prohibited; possession of persons under 21 years of age prohibited; exceptions; proper identification; procedure where false indentification tendered

Officer’s Narrative:
[Please note: The following is a direct transcription from the official initial incident report. The Georgia Gazette does not fix any spelling or grammatical errors that may exist. Any changes or redactions made by our staff are placed inside brackets. Some errors may exist. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The topics discussed may be sensitive to some readers. Discretion is advised.]

On December 8, 2025 at approximately 1551 hours I, Officer Matthew Hartley and Officer James Simmons were dispatched to 302 E 1st St, Vidalia, Toombs County, GA 30474 more commonly known as the Vidalia Police Department in reference to a walk in concerning potential child abuse.

Upon arrival we meet with a female subject who was identified as [WITNESS #1]. [WITNESS #1] advised she had added a friend’s juvenile to her family plan phone contract. [WITNESS #1] described that juvenile as a 17-year-old female. [WITNESS #1] advised that she took the phone back when Juvenile A had stopped paying for the monthly payment on said phone.

[WITNESS #1] advised that she was going through the phone to re gift it, and during the process of cleaning the phone out [WITNESS #1] found a video that she described to contain footage of a 6-year-old drinking an alcoholic beverage Ofc. Simmons and I observed Juvenile B, who is 6 years of age drinking what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage with Lorena Lopez who is the mother and Juan Montero who is the stepfather of Juvenile A and Juvenile B.

I observed Lorena Lopez and Juan Montero appear to encourage Juvenile B to drink what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage. That alcoholic beverage appeared to be a Corona Extra. [WITNESS #1] advised that the family were not legal citizens of America and that they were getting money from a man known as [REDACTED] and that he was the owner of the work van, the very same van in which we observed Juvenile B drinking what appeared to be an alcoholic beverage. [WITNESS #1] advised Ofc. Simmons and I, that those individuals lived at [1200 BLOCK] Orange Street Lot [REDACTED], Vidalia, Ga, 30474

[WITNESS #1] advised us the names of Juan Montero and Lorena Lopez and that she met them originally at church. [WITNESS #1] advised that Lorena Lopez was having an affair with [REDACTED] and that he was supplementing the family with funds. [WITNESS #1] advised she was worried about Juvenile B because [WITNESS #1] stated she would take them all out to eat and [WITNESS #1] advised that Juvenile B consistently wouldn’t eat when they went out.

When Ofc. Simmons, Sgt. Hadvab, Lt. Martinez and I arrived at [1200 BLOCK] Orange Street Lot [REDACTED] we made contact with Juvenile A and Juvenile B they advised us that Lorena Lopez and Juan Montero were not at the house when we arrived. Juvenile A called Lorena Lopez Lt. Martinez advised Lorena Lopez and Juan Montero we wanted to meet at the Vidalia Police Department at 0800 December 9, 2025.

Lt. Martinez spoke to both juveniles, as they were only fluent in Spanish. Juvenile A initially attempted to refute the claims of juvenile B drinking. Lt. Martinez then had Ofc. Simmons show the footage of juvenile B drinking to juvenile A. Juvenile A appeared to be caught off guard and responded with “The fu*k.”

Lt. Martinez then advised that juvenile A stated juvenile B was drinking apple juice and not Corona. Once Lt. Martinez had advised Lorena and Juan to meet in the morning, units then cleared the scene. Once at the Vidalia Police Department, Ofc. Simmons made contact with DCFS, and reported the allegations of child abuse/neglect, using the police department’s recorded phone line.

On December 9, 2025, at approximately 0800 hours at the Vidalia Police Department Ofc. Simmons and I met with a male and female subjected who we identified as Lorena Lopez and Juan Montero we asked their names to confirm who we were talking to and placed them under arrest for Cruelty to Children in the 2nd Degree and Furnishing Alcohol to a minor.

Ofc. Simmons placed handcuffs on the wrists of Juan Montero and double locked them. I placed handcuffs on the wrists of Lorena Lopez and double locked them. Both parties were handcuffed to their rear. I performed a search on Lorena Lopez while Ofc. Simmons performed a search on Juan Montero we found no contraband.

We walked them to my patrol car and placed them in the back of my patrol vehicle and buckled Juan Montero and Lorena Lopez in with the available seatbelts. Ofc. Simmons and I then transported Juan Montero and Lorena Lopez to the Toombs County Detention Center where they were handed over to jail staff without further incident.

DFCS was notified at 1830 on December 8, 2025. Warrants are being sought out against Lorena Lopez and Juan Montero for Cruelty to Children in the 2nd Degree and Furnishing Alcohol to a minor. The rear of my patrol vehicle was inspected before and after there was no contraband found.

[End of Narrative]