SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Court records obtained by News 6 show that a former Orange County deputy has been arrested again, this time for allegedly using law enforcement databases illegally.
James Montiel is charged with 30 counts of “unauthorized access to a computer system or network.” He was arrested in May, after an investigation by deputies in Seminole County who believe Montiel was using government-restricted databases to search for information on the lead detective in a child exploitation case against him.
News 6 first reported on Montiel’s alleged misuse of law enforcement resources last year when we learned he was arrested following a child pornography investigation.
An arrest affidavit for Montiel revealed detectives started looking into Montiel after receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that suspected child pornography had been sent to an IP address associated with him.
Montiel was arrested in that case in May 2024, but News 6 learned months later that he was booked in Lake County on a stalking charge. Court documents tied to that case state Montiel had “shown a pattern of using his position as deputy sheriff with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to use government-restricted databases to research personal and work-related information” after investigators had executed a search warrant at his home in Lake Mary.
The latest arrest affidavit for Montiel details numerous alleged searches from within databases of the lead detective’s license plates. It also includes an image from her home security camera, where Montiel’s Ford Expedition allegedly drove past her Lake County home multiple times one day.
She gave a sworn statement to investigators in August, when Montiel was arrested for stalking, and said she learned that he had searched for information on her, her boyfriend and her home address in at least one law enforcement database. She also stated she learned SCSO had received a public records request for toll information on her assigned work vehicle from someone in Montiel’s family, according to the documents.
The stalking case was ultimately dropped in November when prosecutors declined to pursue the case, citing “insufficient evidence to prove one or more elements of the crime charged.”
Online court records show Montiel is still facing charges in Seminole County for both the child pornography case, and now his most recent arrest for accessing databases illegally. Hearings are scheduled for August.
Our News 6 team went to the former deputy’s home in Seminole County Wednesday to ask him about the allegations. A woman who opened the door declined to speak with us.
Montiel, who was hired as a deputy in Orange County in 2006, was fired after the agency learned of his arrests last year. During his time as a deputy, he was the subject of an internal investigation following a deadly shooting outside the Florida Mall in August 2020 when 22-year-old Salaythis Melvin was killed. Montiel was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in that case. News 6 did learn this week that Melvin’s family recently settled their lawsuit against him.