Dog-attack suspects back in jail

A woman and her son awaiting trial this fall for their alleged roles in a 2023 fatal dog attack in Tucumcari are back in jail. This time they’re accused of felony child abuse.

Mary Montoya, 52, and her son Kristopher J. Morris, 28, both of Tucumcari, were arrested on warrants and charged on Thursday on one count each of intentional child abuse (no great bodily harm).

The charge is a third-degree felony that could result in three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Magistrate Judge Noreen Hendrickson ordered Montoya and Morris to be held without bond in the Quay County Detention Center for violating conditions of their release in connection with the fatal dog attack. Police said dogs allegedly kept by the pair ended the life of Stanley Hartt, 64, on Feb. 1, 2023, near Mesalands Community College.

A review hearing on their cases is scheduled for Friday.

Tucumcari Police Sgt. Lorenzo Emillio was sent on July 1 to Professional Counseling Services in Tucumcari, court records show.

Emillio stated he met with a counselor, a woman and a young boy. The woman said the boy had bruising and a small laceration under his left eye.

The counselor asked how the boy was injured, and the woman said Montoya became upset with the child on June 30 because he had soiled his pants, and she saw Montoya strike the child across the face with an open hand.

The officer also saw bruises across the child’s buttocks, lower back and front and rear upper legs. Emillio stated in an arrest affidavit that “the bruises I observed were not consistent with typical child injuries due to horseplay, falling down, etc.”

The woman also reported Morris spanked the boy with a belt “as corporal punishment.”

The woman told the officer “the spanking was loud enough that she could hear the belt striking (the boy) from a different room and when she went to check on (the child) she observed him pulling up his pants, indicating that Kristopher had spanked his buttocks with the belt on his bare skin.”

The woman said she believed the punishment by Morris and discipline by Montoya was child abuse.

During an interview with police, Morris admitted to using a leather belt on the boy’s bare buttocks as punishment.

Morris said his mother also administered corporal punishment on the boy, including using coat hangers.

Morris confirmed the injuries to the boy’s face occurred on June 30, records show. He said he became upset with the boy, struck him on the back of the head with enough force that the boy lost his balance and slid into a box, perhaps causing the facial injuries.

During an interview by district attorney investigators at the Roosevelt General Hospital Children’s Center in Clovis, the boy confirmed his facial injuries were caused by Montoya.

Montoya and Morris each also are charged with involuntary manslaughter (reckless) and dangerous dog (death of a person) after five dogs attacked and killed Hartt on a Tucumcari street last year.

The dog attack received nationwide attention.

City and county police officers followed one of the dogs in the pack down an alley and spoke to a woman, identified as Montoya, who let the dog into her house.

Officers identified the dog with the pack and saw blood droplets on its face. Montoya said she kept five dogs at her home that belonged to Morris. She said at least two of the dogs jumped the backyard fence, and one had become more aggressive against people.

Morris also told officials one of the dogs repeatedly escaped the backyard and had attacked residents in the city, court records show.The dogs involved in the attack, initially kept at the city pound for evidence, have since been euthanized.

Montoya and Morris each have pleaded not guilty to the dog-related charges.

Montoya is scheduled to go to a jury trial on the dog case in San Miguel County district court on Nov. 7.

Morris is scheduled to go to a jury trial on the dog case in San Miguel County on Aug. 30.