LITTLE ROCK — A former Little Rock pastor and financial adviser must register as a sex offender after admitting Tuesday to having sex with a boy he met over the Internet.
Shane Anthony Montgomery, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault with a 15-year-old boy between June 1, 2009, and July 15, 2009. He was arrested in December 2009 after the boy told his sister about the encounters and she told his parents.
He faced a maximum 12 years in prison on the charges. In exchange for his guilty plea, which was endorsed by the boy’s family, Montgomery was sentenced to six years in prison with five suspended by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims, said deputy prosecutor Jill Kamps. She said Montgomery, a founder of The River Church in Little Rock, which appears to be defunct, met the boy on the Myspacesocial website, and their relationship was not related to his ministry work.
Montgomery, who also worked as a life coach, also was prohibited from mentoring anyone under the age of 18 as part of his plea agreement, Kamps said.
Court records show his wife of nine years left him the day he was arrested after he confessed to detectives and divorced him. According to his website, ShaneMontgomery.com, he had most recently been living in Dallas, seeking work as a life coach, writer, public speaker or ad designer while working part time at a restaurant.
Montgomery had once been a regular guest on KTHV-TV, Channel 11’s This Morning broadcast, where he gave financial advice for more than a year.
From April 2008 to Sept. 2, 2009, Montgomery wrote an unpaid column for Sync, a weekly publication of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. He also wrote four paid freelance articles in September 2009 and October 2009 for the publication’s “Turning Point” section. The section focuses on people or families in tough circumstances who decided to change their lives.