Coachella man charged with rape & false imprisonment for Indio sexual assaults

Rape and false imprisonment charges were filed Wednesday against a Coachella man accused of committing two sexual assaults in Indio within a 10-day period.

Allen Raul Montano, 31, was arrested about 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Thermal’s Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport, after Indio police received a tip that morning from an anonymous caller. Montano entered a not guilty plea to two counts each of rape by force or fear and false imprisonment and one count of oral copulation by force or violence, plus a sentence-enhancing allegation of assaulting multiple victims.

He’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is due back in court Nov. 21 for a felony settlement conference.

Police had been searching for Montano since Oct. 24, when a sexual assault victim flagged down a passerby on a roadway in Indio, according to Indio police Sgt. Daniel Marshall.

Detectives reviewed security footage to determine that Montano had made a purchase at a local convenience store around the time of the alleged crime, and they disseminated photos of the suspect to the public.

During the investigation, they learned of a second alleged victim, who was assaulted on Nov. 3, two days prior to Montano’s arrest in Thermal, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities have not released any information about the alleged victims.