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Man Gets 157 Years to Life For Molesting, Raping Relatives, Including 13-Year-Old He Impregnated
Photo by Tim Pearce, Los Gatos via Flickr
A 48-year-old Orange County man has been sentenced to 157 years to life behind bars for molesting and raping his relatives, including a 13-year-old girl he impregnated and raped her again three weeks after she'd given birth.
Santa Ana resident Samuel Gonzalez was convicted back in November of forcible rape, 11 felony counts of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery, according to City News Service. Jurors also found true multiple sentencing enhancements for substantial sexual conduct and multiple victims.
During trial testimony, Gonzalez claimed one of his victims was a "slut," and said she molested him; the victim was 13 years old, and bore Gonzalez' baby. He tried to get an abortion but could not afford the procedure. He told social services a boy in Mexico had impregnated the teen. DNA testing confirmed the baby, a girl, was his.
Three weeks after she gave birth, Gonzalez took the infant from the girl as she breastfed, and raped her another time.
Today, during sentencing Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg told the defendant, "You, sir, are a sexual predator -- make no mistake about it."
As part of his sentence, Gonzalez will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life, most, if not all of which will likely be spent in prison.
Gonzalez' crimes go back to the early 1990s, but were not investigated until 2011 when a 19-year-old female relative came forward to authorities claiming Gonzalez had fondled her breast. The young woman's sister told investigators Gonzalez began abusing her when she was 8 years old, noting by the time she was 11 it was happening daily.
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In a letter read aloud in court, one victim said to Gonzalez: "You're a monster. I would take two years off your sentence if I could beat you up so you could feel what I feel. ... You no longer own me. You're not worth a second more of my time."
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