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Former town manager receives 20 days in jail
2/3/2012 By: Carole McWilliams
Quintana sentenced to year probation
Former Ignacio Town Manager Balty Quintana was sentenced in County Court Tuesday to 20 days in the county jail on a misdemeanor harassment charge, and to 12 months of supervised probation.
Quintana will report to the jail on Feb. 17.
Judge Martha Minot also entered a conviction on a petty offense public indecency charge, but without attaching any penalties.
Charges were filed against Quintana last June based on allegations from an employee that he supervised. He entered a guilty plea on Nov. 10.
Prosecutor Brian Imel asked for a 30 day sentence and 18 months of probation based on the pre-sentencing investigation by the Probation Department.
In asking for 30 days in jail, Imel argued that although Quintana has no criminal record, “The defendant’s behavior was persistent, it occurred over four years.”
Minot was skeptical. Imel said the charges were based on specific incidents last year, but the prosecution had more evidence to present if the case had gone to trial.
“He repeatedly would walk around with his genitalia showing in his pants,” Imel said. “There were inappropriate e-mails (to the employee), inappropriate or unwanted touching, grabbing, kissing on the lips. He apparently became infatuated with her and arranged to be alone with her. His behavior over time had a strong effect on the victim.”
Imel said Quintana had taken responsibility for mistakes and poor judgment, but maybe not for the full scope of what he’d done.
Defense attorney Alex Tejada said the pre-sentence report contained some things he hadn’t seen before. “There’s a lot to this report, a lot more to this case.”
As for taking responsibility, Tejada said, “Mr. Quintana has admitted everything the victim has stated. He isn’t in denial. Does he deserve what’s happening to him? He has pleaded guilty. But he also lost his position with the town. He worked there for 32 years. This wasn’t aggravated conduct.”
Tejada said the e-mails from Quintana to the victim were apologies. “He has been very supportive of the victim. He said she was a good employee,” Tejada said.
“We are OK with the (sentencing) conditions, but we oppose the jail time,” he continued. “It would be too much punishment in this case.”
Tejada asserted that Quintana “was mistreated by the Town of Ignacio. They terminated him without trial. There’s a culture in Ignacio of this type of behavior. … Mr. Quintana conceded he did wrong. What he did was wrong, but he is more of ‘a stupid old man’ as he said in the report, with values that are inappropriate.”
Tejada continued, “Maybe he is still living in the (19)50s. He isn’t a villain. He isn’t a terrible human being. He’s a person who made mistakes. He wasn’t thinking straight. He should have stopped, or not tried to fix things after the victim complained. He didn’t take it seriously enough.”
Quintana said, “I want to apologize to the victim, the town, my family. I’m really sorry about it. I served on behalf of the town on many non-profit boards and commissions, and I apologize to them too.”
He continued, “I was brought up by my parents, 10 kids, raised to not lie, cheat, or steal. I have let them down.”
On the jail time, Judge Minot said, “The court’s concern here is… one is as stated in the (pre-sentencing investigation), the protracted nature of this conduct. It wasn’t just one incident. You pleaded guilty to two things. You admitted to an incident in 2010 where men wearing kilts were exposing genitals to the victim. The incident in March 2011 was (committed by) a supervisor to the employee. And taking a picture of the victim’s breasts. Your behavior is reprehensible!”
She agreed Quintana had been punished by loss of his job, but she added the jail time is appropriate in this case.
“That’s a lot for an individual who has never been to jail or who has had your position of authority in your community,” Minot said. “But as a supervisor you should have stopped this behavior. Because it continued for months and maybe years, the sentence is appropriate.”
Imel argued the longer probation was needed to make sure there was enough time for a mental health evaluation and any treatment needed.
Tejada said, “A year should be sufficient time to obtain treatment, to be sure this gentleman understands the world has changed.”
Judge Minot concluded that 12 months is enough. That includes a mental health evaluation, and treatment if the probation officer thinks it is appropriate.
Probation also will require Quintana to stay out of trouble, abstain from alcohol, pay fines and court and probation costs.
The allegations against Quintana came out in mid June 2011. Town trustees put him on paid leave on June 16, two days after an apparently routine town board meeting that Quintana attended.
The victim filed for a restraining order on June 27. In the application, she said that on March 16 or 17 last year, at about 7 a.m. in town hall, Quintana was sitting about eight feet away with his legs spread “as wide as he could get them” with a hole in the crotch of his pants so that she could see his genitals.
On June 28, District Attorney Todd Risberg told the Times that Quintana had been charged with one count of indecent exposure, a class 1 misdemeanor. His plea deal in November reduced that to public indecency and harassment.
On June 29, town trustees continued Quintana’s paid leave status and appointed town planner Pat Senecal as interim manager. In August trustees shifted Police Chief Kirk Phillips into that position, which he still holds.
Quintana was fired in July. He had served as town manager since the early 1990s. Before that, he was mayor and a town trustee.
Trustees have been interviewing applicants for the manager position, and yesterday announced four finalists.
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