MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – The man accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old was arrested after the victim shared her experience with him to the creators of an advocacy Instagram page.
KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun interviewed one of the women behind the profile, who remains anonymous because she, too, was victimized by the perpetrator.
A few months ago, a girl reached out to the page, @gabriel_gonzalez_stalks_women, about her experience with the suspect.
One of the profile moderators responded, urging her to speak with law enforcement about the incident.
“She was of course very nervous at first about saying anything or coming forward since she is 15 years old, and he’s a grown adult,” the woman said. “She said that at a point, she felt that it was her own fault, and she didn’t want to blame him.”
The woman comforted the teen and assured her it wasn’t her fault.
The 15-year-old did speak with the sheriff’s office on March 28, 2023.
“What we learned through our investigation [is that] the suspect was grooming young children and young adolescent teens through multiple social media platforms,” Lt. Scott Spencer of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.
Gabriel Gonzalez was ultimately charged with sexual assault of a child.
Investigators say Gonzalez met the girl on Wizz, an app that sells itself as “the ultimate online platform for random, and unexpected chats with people from all over the world. Experience the thrill of the unexpected and let your guard down in a safe and inclusive environment.”
Court documents say Gonzalez then moved their conversations to Snapchat, which the chief of Montgomery County’s Internet Crimes Against Children says is typical.
“It’s typical for a suspect to move from one app to another or from one app to text messages,” said Chris Seufert. “We see that all the time.”
“He’s doing a lot of manipulation of the child and of the facts in order to groom them to meet him and to give in to his will, desires, to do those things,” Spencer said. “He’s very cunning.”
Detectives are speaking with members of the Instagram page to find out what information they have that led them to create the page.
One of the page monitors says they made the profile after some young women started sharing similar stories of their alleged encounters with Gonzalez.
The women say the relief they felt at his arrest quickly went away after learning he’s out on a $30,000 bond.
“Any kind of peace of mind, any kind of solace that I felt just for that short amount of time, I felt was ripped away from me,” she said.
But she said this won’t stop their work of helping potential victims come forward.
Part of the condition of Gonzalez’s bond is that he cannot be in contact with children or use the Internet.