BUFFALO, N.Y. — A 48-year-old man entangled in an Internet love triangle built largely on lies was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for killing his rival for the affection of a woman he had never met.
Thomas Montgomery, who posed as an 18-year-old Marine in online chats, pleaded guilty in August to gunning down Brian Barrett, 22, at the suburban Buffalo factory where they worked.
The motive was jealousy, investigators said. Both were involved online with a middle- aged West Virginia mother — who herself was posing as an 18-year-old student.
Montgomery began chatting with the woman, identified in court as Mary Sheiler, in 2005. When Montgomery’s wife intercepted a package sent by Sheiler, she wrote back, telling Sheiler her husband’s true age and saying he was married. Barrett, whom Montgomery had mentioned in his exchanges, was drawn into the triangle after the woman contacted him online to confirm what she had been told by Montgomery’s wife.
