New charges allege Kayla Montgomery lied to grand jury about where and when she was working

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Paul Garrity, attorney for Kayla Montgomery, speaks to reporters at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester, N.H., on June 6, 2022.. Montgomery, who is the estranged wife of the father of missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery, was arrested on perjury charges. Pool Photo/David Lane

MANCHESTER, NH – Kayla Montgomery waived arraignment Monday on two new felony charges accusing her of lying to a grand jury about where and what shift she worked at the time her 5-year-old stepdaughter went missing in late 2019.

Montgomery, 31, of 631 Lake Ave., Apt. 1, was arrested Friday on two counts of perjury, both class B felonies.

The complaints allege that on May 20, 2022, she made a “false material statement under oath” before the Grand Jury for Hillsborough County Northern District when she testified falsely regarding a prior work location and work shift.

Defense Attorney Paul J. Garrity, in the lobby of the Hillsborough County Superior courthouse, told reporters that while he was not allowed to accompany Montgomery into the Grand Jury room, the question concerned a time in late November, early December 2019, when Harmony is believed to have gone missing.

“We’ll see whether or not the evidence bears out those allegations,” he said of the latest charges.  “Right now, she’s entered a plea of not guilty and she stands by those not guilty pleas.”

Garrity said Montgomery wasn’t pleased about being re-arrested on new charges, but she was “pretty upbeat” knowing she was going to be released later that day on bail.

This is the third time Montgomery has been arrested on unrelated charges.  Asked at what point the arrests are viewed as harassment by police, Garrity said he “couldn’t read into the minds of police or the AGs but right now they think they have enough cause to bring forward these two new charges.  Whether they bear out in terms of evidence, we’ll have to wait and see.”

He said the state must prove the alleged lies are material facts to the case being investigated.

Garrity said he knows authorities are looking for Harmony and the attorney general went forward with Grand Jury proceedings with good intentions. “They thought Kayla was a material witness and brought her in,” he said.

He said Kayla was in the grand jury room for about 45 to 50 minutes.  Her arrest came two weeks later at the Manchester police station.

Police believe Harmony disappeared sometime between Nov. 28 and Dec. 10, 2019.  Authorities didn’t learn of her disappearance, however, until November 2021, two years later.

Montgomery did not appear in court because the hearing was cancelled after she waived arraignment and extradition, and the defense and prosecution came to a bail agreement.

Under the agreement, Montgomery is to be released on $5,000 unsecured bail, have no contact with her estranged husband Adam Montgomery, 31, who is detained in the Valley Street jail on various charges including one accusing him of assaulting Harmony; not travel outside New Hampshire; check in daily in person at the Manchester Police Department, and participate in substance use disorder treatment as recommended by a treatment provider.

This is the third time Montgomery has been arrested since police opened an investigation into the disappearance of Harmony, who was 5-years-old when she went missing in late 2019.

Initially, Montgomery was arrested for theft and welfare fraud accusing her of collecting more than $1,500 in food stamps by claiming Harmony as a dependent when she was not living with her and her husband, Adam.  The second time she was arrested, Montgomery was charged with possessing a stolen rifle, an offense her husband also is facing.  The couple is now estranged.

Adam Montgomery remains jailed on preventive detention on charges including assaulting Harmony in the summer of 2019, blackening her eye.  He also is charged with gun offenses and is accused of being an armed career criminal.

When questioned by detectives concerning Harmony’s disappearance, Kayla said she believed Adam brought Harmony to her mother, Crystal Sorey, 31, in Devens, Mass., the day after Thanksgiving 2019.

She told investigators she hasn’t seen Harmony since.


 

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Pat Grossmith

Pat Grossmith is a freelance reporter.