Note: The contents of this story may be disturbing to some readers
BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
A criminal summons was filed May 9 in Los Alamos Magistrate Court charging Nicanor Gonzales, 20, of Los Alamos with criminal sexual contact with a minor and bribery of a witness.
In Court documents, Los Alamos Police Cpl. Michael Weiss said he was dispatched to McDonald’s on Trinity Drive April 27 in response to an alleged sexual assault. He said the 16-year old female employee reported that she was asked by Gonzales, also an employee, to clean the women’s bathroom and that she obtained the keys from the manager on duty and entered the bathroom.
She told Weiss that Gonzales entered the bathroom, walked up behind her, pressed himself against her and slid his hands into her pants. She said she told Gonzales, “No” and attempted to pull away but he grabbed her wrist. At this point the manager walked in and yelled at Gonzales to, “Go!”. The manager reported that she walked in and saw Gonzales standing in front of the victim with his hands on her wrists.
Video surveillance showed the female employee entering the bathroom and Gonzales entering behind her. Weiss’ report indicates that the video shows that the two were in the bathroom together for a total of 17 seconds.
The victim told Weiss she received multiple messages from Gonzales following the incident and that coworkers took photos of her phone screen. One message allegedly stated, “I’ll give you money of you say we just talked”, and another said, “Girl, you’re so sweet. I wanna chill with you”.
Weiss’ report says he “made contact with Gonzales who refused to give a statement”.
Gonzales was arrested last October and charged with criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact in connection with an alleged incident Sept. 28 at his home. Those charges were dismissed without prejudice in February by Deputy District Attorney Kent Wahlquist.
Court records indicate that Gonzales was arrested by New Mexico State University Police in 2017 and charged with criminal trespass, resisting arrest, possession of alcohol by a minor, disorderly conduct and battery. A plea agreement was reached in that case and Gonzales was given a deferred sentence of six months on the possession, disorderly conduct and battery. The criminal trespass and resisting arrest charges were dismissed.
The criminal complaint in that case alleges Gonzales pushed his way into a dorm room on the NMSU campus and wouldn’t leave when asked, that he shoved a female in the room, admitted to drinking alcohol, was yelling in the building while others were attempting to sleep, and would not remove his hands from his pockets or place them behind his back when asked to by police.
Gonzales has been ordered to appear May 24 in Los Alamos Magistrate Court.