Jury Convicts Braulio Gonzalez of Molesting Woman at Gunpoint

A former lieutenant with the Miami-Dade Police Division accused of molesting an underage member of the family at gunpoint is now going through as much as 48 years in jail after jurors convicted him on seven counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a kid and a single rely of kidnapping.

Braulio Gonzalez, 47, didn’t have to attend lengthy to study his destiny, both, because the jury returned with its verdict after simply quarter-hour of deliberation on Thursday.

The disgraced cop’s arrest in 2018 got here after one of many victims instructed her psychologist that Gonzalez sexually assaulted her when she was simply eight years outdated. That minor feminine later instructed Youngster Protecting Companies workers that Gonzalez “would contact her vagina, breasts, and buttocks over and below her clothes.”

The alleged assaults occurred for 2 years; prosecutors asserted that that they began in 2011 and led to 2013 when the sufferer turned 10. The kidnapping cost stems from Gonzalez’s alleged actions throughout what the jury agreed was his first encounter with one of many minors.

“She described being woken up and seeing the defendant pointing a firearm at her head,” stated state court docket paperwork filed on the time of Gonzalez’s arrest. “The defendant instructed her that if she didn’t observe him, he would kill her sibling who was sleeping in the identical bed room on one other mattress.”

The sufferer stated that risk acquired her shifting, and it would clarify why she waited so lengthy to share her accusations with one other particular person.

“The defendant led the sufferer to his bed room, and she or he was instructed to put down on his mattress,” the doc continued.  “The defendant placed on a film and laid down subsequent to the sufferer. He started rubbing her abdomen, then fondled her breasts, vagina, and buttocks over her clothes. The defendant continued doing this over the subsequent two years.”

Gonzalez’s lawyer labored out a deal that allowed him to await trial whereas below home arrest. The defendant continued to gather his taxpayer-funded wage even after his arrest, as his division opted to place him on paid depart.

9 months after the indictment on these preliminary prices, one other minor feminine got here ahead to accuse Gonzalez. Based on court docket paperwork, the second sufferer accused Gonzalez of getting into a toilet and watching her bathe when she was between the ages of 9 and 11.

This new info satisfied a choose to ship Gonzalez to jail forward of trial. The defendant stays incarcerated as we speak. He faces a minimal of 25 years in jail at his sentencing in April however may serve as much as 48 years, relying on the choose’s resolution.

The defendant maintained his innocence and stated once more on Thursday that he by no means molested both of his accusers. A lawyer for Gonzalez tells Legislation&Crime that he shall be interesting the decision.

Because the Miami Herald first reported, police data present that Gonzalez allegedly assaulted different girls earlier than the costs that led to his conviction this week. Three of his ex-girlfriends claimed to have suffered extreme accidents after Gonzalez reportedly attacked them, with one struggling a damaged nostril and one other a damaged arm, in response to police data. Two of the lady claimed he pointed a firearm at them as nicely, these data present. Even after his superiors discovered this info, he didn’t lose his job with the Miami-Dade police pressure, the paperwork point out.

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