WATSONVILLE (CA)
Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Cathy Smith
sentinel staff writer
A former Watsonville pastor and school district employee facing trial next month on charges of molesting a teen was back in court Monday on a new allegation — that he raped a 24-year-old woman in 1998. Prosecutors claim the victim was a vulnerable immigrant from El Salvador.
Steven Montez Martinez, 48, was arrested in November in connection with acts allegedly committed in the early 1990s.
His trial on four counts of committing lewd acts on girl under age 16 is set for Dec. 6.
While investigating those allegations in September, another alleged victim surfaced, investigators say, who told them of a 1998 rape. It reportedly occurred in Sacramento County, where the woman now lives.