Following a three-day spree of crimes, including attacking two residents of the assisted living facility where he worked, breaking into a home through a doggy door, and attempting to kill a six-year-old girl during her first sleepover, a California man will serve more than sixteen years in prison, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
About a month after the jury deadlocked on the allegation, Joel James Gonzales, 28, entered a guilty plea to felony indecent acts on a dependent adult in August.
The jury did find him guilty of misdemeanor assault, felony assault with intent to commit rape during a burglary, and attempted murder of the girl.
About fifty miles northwest of Los Angeles, in Camarillo, at the Royal Gardens elder care facility, Gonzales worked as a caregiver for dementia and Alzheimer’s. Gonzales attacked two patients on October 15, 2020.
According to the prosecution, he repeatedly cornered his first victim, threw her into the bed, and attempted to rip off her clothes. The victim retaliated, and the suspect gave up.
Gonzales led a 90-year-old dementia patient into a storage closet during the second incident, locked her inside, and, according to the prosecution, “performed lewd acts on the victim before staff started knocking on the door.”
Gonzales “surprised the homeowner” the next day when he crawled through a doggy door at a Camarillo home, according to the prosecution.
“Gonzales was told to leave but refused. He wandered around the house until a deputy with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office arrived,” prosecutors stated.
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Gonzales was taken into custody by deputies, but he was later freed to be with his family. A six-year-old girl was spending her first sleepover with the family’s daughter that evening.
On October 17, 2020, at 5 a.m., family members heard loud pounding noises coming from the two little daughters’ bedroom.
“A teenager in the home was the first to investigate and saw Gonzales violently beating and choking the six-year-old victim in her sleeping bag. The teenager rushed at Gonzales, knocking him off the victim,” prosecutors stated.
Gonzalez was restrained by his parents as they dialed 911. Police discovered the woman unconscious and with a swollen and bloody face. The victim, according to the authorities, survived but had brain damage.
Gonzales first entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea, but he later entered a guilty plea. On September 25, a judge sentenced him. The convictions, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Tom Steele, “enable each of the victims to receive the justice and closure they deserve.”
