A former correctional officer at California’s Fresno County jail was sentenced Tuesday to two years probation and seven months behind bars for having sex with an inmate, The Fresno Bee reports.
Tina Gonzalez was arrested in May 2020 in wake of an investigation that was launched after being tipped off about a male inmate who received a cell phone and had sex with a prison guard. Gonzalez was charged with sexual activity by a detention facility employee with a consenting confined adult, possession of drugs or an alcoholic beverage in a jail facility, and possession of cellular device with intent to deliver to an inmate. She pleaded no contest in April.
Gonzalez was facing three years and eight months in prison, however, prosecutors suggested that she receive a 15-month sentence.
Her attorney Martin Taleisnik asked for leniency in the form of probation over jail time, arguing that marital problems left her in a vulnerable position. “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.
While Taleisnik said Gonzalez took responsibility for her actions, Assistant Sheriff Steve McComas didn’t feel like she was remorseful, judging from her phone conversations with the inmate. “She took an oath which she betrayed and in doing so endangered her coworkers’ lives,” McComas said. “But she has shown no remorse. She continually calls and has sexually explicit conversations with the inmate in question and boasts about the crimes she carried out.”
McComas said Gonzalez not only had sex with the inmate, she gave him razors, and informed him when his cell would be inspected. He claims she once had sex with the inmate inside the jail in front of 11 other prisoners. Gonzalez also allegedly tried to make it easier to have sex with the inmate by cutting a hole in her uniform. “That is something only a depraved mind can come up with,” McComas said.
