A former Troy Police officer accused of grooming a local teen for sex appeared Monday in Lincoln County District Court.

Layton Lee Natal Artigo, 23, who remains in custody on $1 million bail in the Flathead County Detention Center, appeared and pleaded not guilty to one felony count of grooming a child for sex and one felony count of evidence tampering.

Artigo’s temporary counsel, Natalie Bergen-Henengouwen, told Judge Matt Cuffe her client wanted a bond hearing.

“I won’t be the attorney of record in this case, so I’d appreciate it if you can set this a few weeks out,” she said.

Cuffe agreed. He did set an omnibus hearing for Feb. 9 and a pretrial conference for March 23.

Artigo was sworn in as a Troy Police officer on March 10, 2025.

According to a Nov. 14 news release from Troy city officials, Artigo was fired after the city Police Department and city leaders received information about misconduct. After the initial investigation by Troy Police and the county Sheriff’s Office, Artigo’s employment was terminated. The city also said Artigo has a history of contacts outside the United States and the eastern seaboard.

That same day, the Sheriff's Office confirmed that Artigo had turned himself in to the Santa Ana Police Department in California. 

Artigo was later extradited back to Montana for prosecution. 

The investigation into Artigo was subsequently turned over to the county and the Montana Department of Criminal Investigatoin. 

TROY MAYOR T.J. Boswell previously spoke with The Western News about the situation.

“It’s obviously embarrassing, but he passed all the state and federal background checks during the hiring process,” Boswell said. 

Boswell said Artigo worked in law enforcement positions in two other Montana locales before coming to Troy, including the state Department of Corrections. Boswell said when the city was interviewing candidates for the job, Artigo had the most experience of any of them.

Artigo has worked in security and law enforcement since 2021.

According to a LinkedIn page in his name, he was identified as a security site supervisor at a financial services company in Boston from January 2021 to May 2023.

The page also lists Artigo as working as a correctional officer in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts from May 2023 to December 2023. Artigo was listed as a graduate of the Correction Officer Training Program in a newsletter published by the county.

The page also indicated he joined the Teton County Sheriff’s Office in Choteau as a deputy in February 2024. Photos of a man matching Artigo’s description were published in the May 2024 Choteau Public Schools newsletter. He was identified as a deputy sheriff who spoke to first grade students at Choteau Elementary School during its “Cops and Cookies” event.

ACCORDING TO a Nov. 13 news release from Sheriff Darren Short, his office received a report of suspicious activity involving several juvenile females and Artigo.

County detectives began to investigate and spoke to a number of the girls. After getting a warrant and searching Artigo’s residence, officers secured an arrest warrant.

In the complaint, county detectives received information that Artigo may have engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with minors using Snapchat, a social media app.

County Detective Cody DeWitt went to Troy on Nov. 12 to interview a minor that was reportedly in contact with Artigo. She said the accused had spoken with her since Nov. 9 on Snapchat. He saw the Snap conversation threads and in them, Artigo allegedly insinuated he was masturbating, asked her if she could handle him and asked her when she turned 18.

In another conversation, Artigo allegedly asked the girl if “she was gonna be chill about this right,” elaborating, “I like my career” and “I don’t know what it is about you, but I want you.” When she said, “Explain,” he allegedly said he was scared and didn’t want to get caught.

DeWitt and fellow county Detective Brandon Holzer got a search warrant for Artigo’s phones, tablets, computers, TVs, game consoles as well as portable devices with internet access. When they arrived at his residence, he was not at home. They saw the residence was in complete disarray and smelled of a burned, plastic odor.

They also reported Artigo had stripped his bed and bleached certain areas of the apartment. Also, Troy Police officer Ian Smith entered the apartment and saw black charring and smoke marks on the walls. Holzer found a melted, burned pile of plastic in the oven that he determined was a computer hard drive. They also seized a small iPhone.

Smith and Deputy Ben Fisher went to Artigo’s girlfriend’s residence. She told them she spoke with Artigo after he had been fired that afternoon. She said the conversation was normal, but he allegedly asked her to grab his Smart TV. She gave it to the officers.

She said she had no idea where Artigo was and hadn’t heard from him since their conversation earlier that day. Officer Smith continued to search for Artigo, but didn’t find him. Officials later learned he got a taxi to Spokane.

A conviction on the sex offense charge may result in a maximum sentence of 10 years in the Montana State Prison. Ten years is also the maximum term for the tampering charge.