Fire captain investigated, on leave

Robert A. Montijo, who was hired by the district in 1992, was convicted of negligent homicide in 1987 and spent three years in prison. After being released, he found work with Rural/Metro Fire Department before applying to the fire district.

Earlier this year, Montijo, 44, got a new title and a pay raise after the district began an investigation to determine whether Montijo failed to disclose his felony conviction.

That initial investigation abruptly ended during an employee appeal hearing, although district officials won't say why it ended.

In an interview this week Chief Jeff Piechura said Montijo was under investigation and had been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome.

Piechura wouldn't say whether the investigation is a continuation of the earlier investigation or a new matter. He also wouldn't say when Montijo was placed on leave.

The investigation should be resolved in the next week, Piechura said.

Anonymous call to district

In a taped recording of the appeals hearing conducted earlier this year, Piechura said he first learned of Montijo's conviction late last year when an unidentified woman called the district and said "you have a murderer with you."

But Montijo said Piechura knew about the conviction the day he applied for work, as he disclosed the felony on his initial application.

Piechura disputed Montijo's claim, arguing that the former captain removed the initial application from his personnel file and doctored it.

District officials can't find the original application and used a copy provided by Montijo during the investigation.

Piechura intended to fire Montijo in December, but Montijo appealed the decision to the district's internal review board.

At the hearing, Piechura and Assistant Chief Al Pesqueira tried to prove that Montijo hid his past and should be fired.

Montijo said he couldn't have hidden the conviction from the district because the state health department learned of the felony more than a decade ago when Montijo applied for training as an emergency medical technician.

Piechura stopped the hearing halfway through the proceedings won't say what happened next.

Montijo, who Piechura said is "like a brother" to him, is now a warehouse supervisor for the district and makes $68,545 a year, up more than $2,000 from his salary as a captain.

Body found in 1986

On Aug. 10, 1986, a hiker found the body of Alexander Torres under a bridge on Old Nogales Highway.

Montijo was arrested a day later and charged with first-degree murder, according to Arizona Daily Star archives.

Investigators thought Torres, 20, was the victim of a hit-and-run, but an autopsy showed he was beaten and suffered multiple stab wounds to the head and chest.

Torres had been dating Montijo's sister, Suzie Montijo, and the relationship was volatile, according to trial testimony.

Torres had threatened to kill Montijo's sister and the couple's daughter at one point, according to Star archives. He also had burglarized Suzie and Robert Montijo's mother's house and broken into a car on the property.

Fresh off an honorable discharge from the Air Force, Montijo came home to find his sister and Torres arguing.

According to a state health department investigation released to the Star, Robert Montijo confronted Torres with an unloaded gun to stop the fight.

Robert Montijo and Torres then left in Robert Montijo's pickup truck, driving into the desert near Old Nogales Highway. The pair talked for a while before they began arguing.

The argument turned violent, Montijo said. Torres started attacking him and he fought back in self-defense.

Montijo dumped Torres' body under the bridge because he didn't think anyone would believe him, he has said.

A jury convicted Montijo of the lesser negligent homicide charge, throwing out first-degree murder, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment charges.

Montijo was sentenced to five years in prison with parole possible after two and half years. He was released in 1990.

After getting out of prison, Montijo had difficulty finding a job. He filled out at least 20 applications for several jobs and disclosed his conviction on each one.

But each time he disclosed the conviction, he failed to get a job offer, Montijo told district officials in December.

So he stopped disclosing his conviction and was quickly hired by Rural/Metro. Later, Montijo again lied on an EMT training application.

"That opened the door for Robert," Pesqueira said in the hearing. "He had to lie."

When Montijo applied for a job with Northwest in 1992, he interviewed with Piechura, who at the time was overseeing new hires.

This time, Montijo said, he disclosed the felony conviction.

During the appeal hearing, Piechura testified that he would have seen Montijo's conviction if it was on his application.

"Had the fire district known that Robert was a convicted felon . . . we would not have hired (him)," Piechura said.

On the application provided by Montijo and released to the Arizona Daily Star, Montijo answers "yes" to whether he was convicted of a felony. In the explanation section, Montijo typed, "Will explain."

While they couldn't prove it, Pesqueira and Piechura said the document was taken from Montijo's personnel file and doctored.

Pesqueira said the words "Will explain" appear in a type style different from the rest of the first page of the application.

The type style that appears most on the page is called Pica, and has 10 characters per inch. Under the felony question, the type appears in Elite, which contains 12 characters per inch.

Also, out of nearly 200 employees in the district, Montijo's application is the only one missing, Pesqueira said.

Montijo couldn't explain the difference in type or why his application was missing from his personnel file.

Montijo had a copy of his application because he keeps important records himself, he said.

When asked why he chose to disclose his conviction to Northwest and not to Rural/Metro, Montijo said he wasn't worried about not getting the Northwest job because he already had one.

He said he wrote "Will explain" because he wanted to tell the district in person about the conviction.

Piechura doesn't remember ever talking to Montijo about the conviction, but Montijo said other district employees knew about it.

Montijo said he told then-captains Doug Emmans and Gerard Pahissa in 1995 after he was placed on probation by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The state health department placed Montijo on probation after he admitted to failing to disclose his felony conviction on his EMT training application. As part of the probation, he had to notify his employer, complete an ethics course and design a presentation on ethics in the workplace.

Montijo successfully completed the probation, according to a 1996 letter from the state health department.

Emmans testified that he never remembers Montijo telling him about the conviction. If Montijo had said something, Emmans would have at least told Piechura, he said.

Pahissa wasn't interviewed at the hearing.

Good record with district

At the hearing, Montijo argued that the conviction shouldn't be held against him after 15 years of work.

"Remember, the felony is one component," Montijo told the hearing board. "The service, what you have done in the past, what you have done since that to try to correct everything and make everything right is what counts here."

Piechura said Montijo's service with the district has been above reproach.

Montijo's performance was so good that Piechura had recently urged him to start studying to test for a battalion chief position.

Before the investigation began, the pair were close, Piechura said.

"I love him like a brother," Piechura said.