A homeless sex offender in Fruitland Park was arrested when an officer found him with a false name and Social Security number.
An officer spotted 57-year-old Daniel Montanez walking north on Dixie Avenue at 6:40 a.m. Tuesday, July 8, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. He was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault in New Jersey on Aug. 12, 1994. However, he had a Marion County warrant for failing to register as a sex offender.
Prior to seeing Montanez, the officer was told by dispatch that he had moved from New Jersey to 12190 SE 96th Ave., Summerfield. Upon moving to Marion County, he obtained a fake Social Security card and driver’s license under the name “Daniel Martinez.” A check of this false name revealed the warrant was for failure to register every six months, failure to register email address and failure to update change of address, the report said.
Several officers then approached Montanez and asked if his name was Martinez, to which he said yes. He gave them his fake license as well. He was subsequently detained so they could further investigate the warrant and false identity, the report said.
Montanez refused to talk, so an officer with the Lady Lake Police Department was asked to come to the scene with a fingerprint scanner. Meanwhile, a picture of him was found under his real name on the FDLE sex offender registration page. The officer with the fingerprint scanner got to the scene and confirmed his real name, the report said.
Montanez explained that he had a Social Security card and wanted to show it to law enforcement. However, it came back to the fake name attached to the warrant. He also had several debit and credit cards in his wallet under the fake name, the report said.
An officer advised that the warrant was due to him being a sexual predator who needed to register. Montanez stated he knew and claimed he was accused of a crime. He was ultimately arrested and put in the back of a patrol vehicle, the report said.
While on the way to jail, Montanez asked if he would be given a home after he got out of jail. He also asked if all he would have to do was find somewhere to live so he could register, the report said.
Montanez later stated he had a triple bypass the day before and was having chest pain. EMS responded and took him to Waterman Hospital where he was medically cleared, the report said.
The report noted that the fake driver’s license did not have the required sexual predator markers attached. The required markers were also not on the driver’s license shown in the law enforcement database, either.
Montanez was charged with possession of driver’s license by sexual predator with no predator markings and false name to law enforcement. The New York native was transported to Lake County Jail with bond set at $3,500.