A California female corrections officer was accused of having sex with an inmate while in full view of 11 other prisoners. Sadly, that’s not all she did, and she’s since been punished for her “crimes of passion.”
Tina Gonzalez — a 26-year-old, now-former California corrections officer — must not have heard the old saying, “Don’t get your honey where you make your money.” Sadly, it wasn’t a coworker and an interoffice romance that landed her in some very hot water. Instead, the corrections officer was allegedly having sex with an inmate, according to The Blaze. But, that wasn’t the worst of it.
Gonzalez’s crimes came to light after another prisoner at the Fresno County Jail tipped off authorities. According to the prisoner, Gonzalez had a sexual encounter with another inmate and also provided him with dangerous contraband. The tip led the vice unit and the internal affairs division of the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office to launch an investigation into Gonzalez.
The investigation uncovered shocking and repulsive details about the corrections officer’s tryst, and it’s enough to make any reasonable person’s skin crawl. Gonzalez, who had worked at the jail for three years, not only had sex with an inmate inside the jail, but she also did it in the full view of 11 other inmates, according to the Fresno Bee, but that’s not all.
In fact, Gonzalez’s former boss, assistant sheriff Steve McComas, admitted that he had seen some “pretty disgusting things” during his 26 years on the job, but nothing shocked him as much as Gonzalez’s depraved behavior, which included modifying her work uniform for easy access, supplying the convicted criminal with dangerous contraband, and giving him advanced warnings regarding cell searches.
Not only did Gonzalez give the inmate a cell phone, but she also allegedly supplied him with razors, which could have easily been used to harm her coworkers. She also reportedly snuck alcohol into the jail. Sadly, Gonzalez only seemed to care about her sexual encounters. In order to more easily engage with her imprisoned lover, the correctional officer “allegedly cut a hole in her uniform to make it easier to have sex with the inmate she was involved with.”
“That is something only a depraved mind can come up with,” McComas said. “She took an oath which she betrayed and in doing so endangered her coworkers’ lives,” he continued. The assistant sheriff was hoping that Gonzalez might show some remorse about what she had done, but she continued to have phone calls with the inmate even after she was caught. Those calls showed McComas a gross lack of remorse.
“[S]he has shown no remorse,” McComas said in court, as he shared harsh words regarding Gonzalez’s conduct. “She continually calls and has sexually explicit conversations with the inmate in question and boasts about the crimes she carried out,” he added as he told the court about the ex-correctional officer’s disgusting behavior.
After her arrest, Tina Gonzalez pleaded no contest to one count of sexual activity by a detention facility employee with a consenting confined adult, one count of possession of drugs or an alcoholic beverage in a jail facility, and a misdemeanor count of possession of cellular device with intent to deliver to an inmate. In court, her defense attorney, Martin Taleisnik, still defended his client, saying she didn’t mean any harm.
“It was never her intention to bring any harm or danger to the employees in the jail or anyone else in the jail,” Taleisnik said, adding that the former corrections officer’s marriage had ended and made her vulnerable at the time she had sex with the inmate in jail. Gonzalez’s boss wasn’t swayed. Instead, McComas asked that the judge hand down the maximum punishment of three years and eight months in prison in hopes of sending a clear message that this type of crime won’t be tolerated at the jail.
Sadly, the judge in the case disagreed and issued a much lesser sentence in light of Gonzalez’s early plea and lack of criminal history. For her despicable behavior, Gonzalez was only sentenced to seven months in the county jail and two years probation by Judge Michael Idiart. “I think what you did was terrible, stupid and you have ruined your career,” Idiart said. “But I also believe that people can redeem themselves, and you have the rest of your life to do that. Good luck.”
Tina Gonzalez supplied an incarcerated criminal with razors, which could have been used as weapons against her coworkers, while also supplying her behind-bars-beau with alcohol. If that’s not a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is. Pardon the pun, but there are a lot of people who could have gotten screwed in this deal, beyond the officer and her law-breaking lover. And, that’s not okay.
In addition to putting her coworkers in danger, Tina Gonzalez also gave a big middle finger to the victims of those who are behind bars. Inmates are sent to prison as a punishment. Rewarding convicts with the things they likely miss the most not only neglects an officer’s oath but also victimizes those who were already victimized by the convicted criminal all over again. Could you imagine being the victim of Gonzalez’s lover and learning that, during his time behind bars, he’s enjoying sex, alcohol, and phone calls with a new flame? It’s disgusting.
