Harford County man who coerced, enticed minor for sex gets 13 years in federal prison

On July 15, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced the sentencing of 40-year-old Anthony Gonzalez of Aberdeen, Maryland, to 13 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for coercion and enticement of a minor.  Upon his release from prison, Gonzalez must continue to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”).

According to his guilty plea, between 2017 and 2019, Gonzalez coerced three minor females to engage in sexual activity.  Specifically, in June 2018, Gonzalez made contact with a minor female victim (Victim 1) on a social media application.  Although Victim 1’s profile stated that she was 18 years old, Victim 1 informed Gonzalez that her actual age was 16 years old.  During their communication, Gonzalez referred to Victim 1 as his girlfriend, discussed getting married to her, and initiated sexual conversations.

In one instance, Gonzalez asked Victim 1 to sneak out of her hotel room that she was sharing with her father to meet Gonzalez.  Specifically, on June 27, 2018, Gonzalez traveled from his Bel Air, Maryland residence to meet Victim 1 at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania hotel.  There, Gonzalez and Victim 1 engaged in sexually explicit activity twice.  In one sexual encounter, Gonzalez recorded the sexual acts on his cell phone. 

Additionally, Gonzalez brought Victim 1 a cell phone with the ability to take pictures and videos as her cell phone could not.  Following their meeting, Gonzalez asked Victim 1 “Do you always delete our messages from your phone baby?”.

Between 2017 and 2018, Gonzalez met Victim 2, when she was 13 years old.  Gonzalez initiated a romantic online relationship with Victim 2.  During their conversations, Gonzalez frequently held sexual conversations with Victim 2, convinced Victim 2 to send sexual images, and discussed meeting with Victim 2 in person.  When Victim 2 declined and blocked Gonzalez multiple times, a mutual friend encouraged her to communicate with him.

Gonzalez met Victim 3 in 2018 when she was 15 years old.  Gonzalez told Victim 3 that they were “boyfriend and girlfriend” and convinced her to send him sexually explicit images at his request.  Victim 3 genuinely believed that she had to do what Gonzalez requested because she was his “girlfriend.”  In total, Victim 3 sent explicit images over 500 times at the defendant’s request.

As detailed in his plea agreement, on January 24, 2019, a federal search warrant was executed at Gonzalez’s Aberdeen, Maryland residence.  As a result of the search warrant, law enforcement seized several devices including two tablets, three cell phones, and a SIM card.  In an interview with law enforcement, Gonzalez admitted to engaging in sex acts with Victim 1 and saved the recordings to an internet storage system. 

He also admitted to law enforcement that he knew Victim 2 was a minor during their conversations and had approximately four sexually explicit images of her.

This case against Gonzalez was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 

Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter