Jurors find Lyft driver not guilty in kidnapping case

SALT LAKE CITY — Jurors acquitted a rideshare driver of kidnapping after he spent just over six months in jail following a report that a 15-year-old jumped from his moving vehicle to escape after he turned the wrong way.

Victor Manuel Montilla, 44, was found not guilty of kidnapping, a second-degree felony, on Sept. 16 after jurors heard his testimony for almost two and a half hours and deliberated for an hour. The judge ordered him to be released from jail that day.

He was charged on March 11 and on April 27, 3rd District Judge Vernice Trease ruled there was enough evidence Montilla committed the crime for the case to go to trial. His trial began in the afternoon of Sept. 15 and the verdict was read just after 8 p.m. the next day.

Charging documents claimed a woman had arranged for a Lyft driver to pick her daughter up in West Jordan to take her to an appointment in Salt Lake City and then Montilla turned the wrong way when leaving the family's complex.

Police said Montilla told the 15-year-old he had fixed his directions, but then cancelled the ride on his phone and told the girl that her mother had cancelled the ride.

The mother called her daughter after noticing the movement had stopped on her Lyft app and told her daughter to exit the car. Charges said the girl reported asking Montilla to stop in both English and Spanish, and Montilla told police he was looking for a safe spot to pull over when she left the car.

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