The ex-convict father of missing seven-year-old Harmony Montgomery has been arrested in New Hampshire on a slew of charges related to her disappearance two years ago, including assault and child endangerment.
Adam Montgomery, 31, was arrested on Tuesday in Manchester on a warrant charging him with one felony count of second-degree assault stemming from a July 2019 beating of his daughter; one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody, and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child.
The Manchester Police Department stated in a press release that despite Montgomery’s arrest, ‘the search for Harmony continues.’
Montgomery, who was pictured in his booking photo with a teardrop tattoo on his face, is scheduled to be arraigned later on Wednesday.
An arrest affidavit obtained by DailyMail.com alleges that Montgomery, who has a history of criminal offenses and drug abuse, punched Harmony in the face and gave her a black eye in July 2021 – just six months after New Hampshire’s child protective services gave him custody of his daughter.
Montgomery’s brother quoted Adam as telling him of the beating: ‘I bashed her around this house,’ according to the filing.
He also would allegedly spank his daughter, force her to stand in a corner for hours and make her scrub the house with her own toothbrush.
Adam Montgomery, 31 (left), the father of missing New Hampshire girl Harmony Montgomery (right), has been arrested on charges of assault, interference with custody and endangering the welfare of a child.
This aerial photo shows police searching the backyard at 77 Gilford Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday as part of an investigation into the disappearance of seven-year-old Harmony Montgomery
The arrest came a day after Manchester police set up a tip line and offered cash rewards totaling $33,000 for information leading to Harmony’s safe return.
Harmony was reported missing only last week, more than two years after her last sighting.
Her mother, Crystal Sorey, has taken to Facebook to claim that she has filed dozens of claims of abuse and neglect while her daughter was in the custody of her father.
Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said at a press conference on Monday that his agency was notified last week that Harmony was last seen at a home in Manchester in October 2019, when she was 5.
Aldenberg said police are operating under the assumption that Harmony is alive, ‘until somebody shows me something that she’s not.’
When asked why it took so long for her to be reported missing, he replied: ‘That’s what we’re trying to get to the bottom of.’
‘If there was some flaw in the system: Where was it and how is it going to be addressed?’ Aldenberg added after refusing to answer any more questions about the police’s conversations with the DCYF.
Harmony, right, pictured with her younger brother, Jamison, was last seen in October 2019, but she was reported missing only in December 2021
Harmony was described as four-feet tall and weighs 50-pounds. She has blonde hair, blue eyes and wears glasses because she is blind in her right eye
Harmony was last enrolled in school in Massachusetts in 2019, according to the police chief, but detectives don’t know in which town.
Harmony’s uncle told Boston station WBTS that he reported an unspecified incident involving Harmony to the New Hampshire DCYF back in July or August of 2019.
The unnamed uncle did not reveal any specifics about the incident.
Harmony is described as being 4ft tall and weighing 50lbs. She has blonde hair, and blue eyes and is said to be wearing glasses due to being blind in her right eye. The last photographs taken of Harmony are from two years ago.
Aldenberg said that officers searched Adam Montgomery’s former home at 77 Gilford Street on Sunday, according to New Hampshire Union Leader.
Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey (left), claimed she had filed dozens of abuse and neglect reports involving her daughter prior to her disappearance